THE  UNIVERSE 

2&£  A  VAST  >^ 
ELECTRIC  ORGANISM 


GEORGE  W.  WARDER 


^ 


LIBRARY 

OF  THK 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


OF* 


Class 


**  * 


3 


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• 
I 


The  Universe 

a  Vast 
Electric  Organism 


BY 

GEORGE  WOODWARD  WARDER 

AUTHOR    OF 

"  Invisible    Light,    or    the    Electric    Theory    of 
Creation,"  "The  Cities  of  the  Sun,"  Etc.,  Etc. 


The  universe  i$  a  vast  electric  machine  or  organism  creating  its 
oiun  cosmic  force,  lighting  and  heating  itself  from  its  oivn  latent 
electric  fires,  and  bound  together  by  invisible  electric  bands  pulling 
and  guiding  ivith  the  swiftness  of  lightning,  and  the  power  and  'wis- 
dom of  Omnipotence. — From  "  THE  CITIES  OF  THE  SUN." 


G.  W.  DILLINGHAM    COMPANY 

Publishers  New  York 


COPYRIGHT,  1903 
BY 

GEORGE  WOODWARD  WARDER 

Issued  February,  1904 


The  Universe 

a  Vast 
Electric  Organism 


CONTENTS 

I.    The  Universe  Is  a  Vast  Electric  Organism,        .        .        11 
II.    Electricity  Produces  All  the  Phenomena  of  Nature  .        29 

III.  Electrical  Creation,  Briefly  Stated.    It  Seems  to  Solve 

the  Riddle  of  the  Universe,  .        .        .        .        .        49 

IV.  Electrical    Creation    More    Fully    Stated    Confirms 

Scientific  Evolution, 54 

V.    Man  Is  a  Soul  Clad  in  Air,  a  Spirit  in  an  Electric 

Organism, 76 

VI.    All  Light,  Heat  and  Life  Evolved  Only  in  the  At- 
mosphere of  Suns  and  Planets,  ....        90 

VII.     Electrical  Derangement  of  the  Bodily  Organism  Pro- 
duce Sickness  and  Death, 102 

VIII.    Recent  Electric  Discoveries  and  Appliances,  Wireless 

Telegraphy,  etc., 112 

IX.     Present  Science  Is  in  a  Dubious  and  Chaotic  Condi- 
tion,     133 

X.    Electrical  Creation  Explains  Natural  Philosophy     .     156 
XI.    Science  and  Philosphy  Sustain  the  Religious  Concept,     173 

XII.    Human  Reason  and  the  Universe  Are  Books  of  God, 

as  Well  as  the  Bible,      ....  .  194 


iv  CONTENTS 

XIII.  Love    is  the  Electric    Law  of  Life :   All  That  Live 

Must  Come  From  Loving, 213 

XIV.  Jacob's    Ladder  Is    the  Electric  Pathway  Between 

Suns  and  Planets 230 

XV.    This  Electric  Universe  is  Self- sustaining  and  Eternal     246 
XVI.    Are  all  Suns  and  Worlds  Inhabited?    .  265 


XVII.    The  Electrical  %st€*^of  Creation  Will  Save  Mod- 
ern Science  from  Pantheism 289 


PREFACE 

THIS  volume  is  intended  to  further  elucidate  my 
theories  of  electrical  creation,  to  cover  some  points 
lightly  touched  upon  in  my  previous  books;  also 
to  bring  forward  to  date  the  most  recent  scien- 
tific facts  and  discoveries  tending  to  show  that 
the  universe  is  a  vast  electric  machine  or  organism. 

This  is  the  electrical  age  of  the  world,  the  age  of 
magnetic  marvels  and  electrical  wonders.  The  peo- 
ple of  this  generation  have  witnessed  the  most 
astounding  development  of  electrical  machinery, 
appliances  and  utilities.  In  every  department  of 
effort  human  genius  has  called  forth  this  invisible, 
mysterious  magician,  electricity,  to  work  the  mira- 
cles of  Omnipotence. 

And  so  rapid  and  marvelous  have  been  the  dis- 
coveries that  the  human  mind  stands  paralyzed 
with  wonder  and  amazement  and  asks,  What  next? 
In  discovering  electricity  man  has  discovered  the 
working  force  of  Deity,  the  right  hand  of  Omnip- 
otence, the  word  of  creative  power,  and  uses  it 
in  all  fields  of  human  effort.  With  electric  cables, 
electric  motors,  telephones,  phonographs,  telectro- 
scopes,  wireless  telegraphy  and  mental  telepathy, 
the  world  is  revolutionized,  "the  old  heavens  and 
the  old  earth  have  passed  away,  and  behold  !  all 
things  are  new." 

The  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth  as  I  see  it 


6  PREFACE 

through  scientific  facts  and  analogies  is  a  perfect 
electrical  machine,  a  vast  electro-magnetic  organism 
of  marvelous  power  and  perfection.  This  "stupen- 
dous mass  of  matter  and  force"  we  call  the  universe 
is  a  complete  whole,  a  perfect  unity,  creating  its 
own  light,  heat  and  life  and  bound  together  by 
invisible  electric  ties  of  measureless  power,  as  swift 
as  lightning  and  as  strong  as  Omnipotence. 

Then  I  took  up  the  study  of  electricity  as  a  matter 
of  curiosity  and  mental  stimulus  for  my  leisure 
hours  from  the  law  practice  and  realty  investments. 
I  had  an  indefinite  idea  that  this  mysterious  force 
and  the  laws  governing  it  might  help  to  solve  the 
riddle  of  the  universe.  I  studied  its  application  to 
ordinary  machinery  and  then  applied  it  to  the 
universe  as  a  vast  machine.  And  behold  !  the  uni- 
verse as  a  mighty  electric  machine  or  organism 
answered  every  scientific  question  and  solved  every 
puzzle  in  the  material  world  as  far  as  I  could  com- 
prehend them. 

I  applied  it  to  suns  and  planets,  man  and  all 
animal  and  vegetable  organisms,  and  as  electric 
creations  and  electric  generators  they  explained 
a  thousand  mysteries.  I  found  man  the  most  per- 
fect electric  organism,  woven  by  electric  energy  from 
invisible  atoms,  receiving  his  physical  life,  growth 
and  nutrition,  and  digesting  and  assimilating  his 
food  by  an  electric  process,  such  as  Prof.  Loeb  and 
Dr.  Matthews  discovered  in  1902,  nearly  twenty 
years  after.  I  soon  formulated  a  theory  of  elec- 
trical creation,  which  has  recently  been  accepted 
by  some  of  the  ablest  scientists. 

These  things  I  discussed  openly  and  on  the  plat- 
form for  many  years  and  then  I  published  them  in 


PREFACE  7 

my  book,  The  New  Cosmogony,  in  1898,  in  Invisible 
Light  in  1900  and  in  The  Cities  of  the  Sun  in  1901. 

My  attention  was  first  called  to  this  subject  about 
twenty  years  ago  when  Prof.  Henry  built  the  first 
electric  street  railway  ever  built  in  this  country. 
It  was  built  on  East  Fifth  Street,  in  Kansas  City, 
Missouri,  the  city  where  I  was  living,  and  attracted 
much  attention.  It  was  used  for  only  a  short  time 
because  the  machinery  was  not  sufficiently  perfected, 
and  there  was  too  great  a  waste  of  power,  and  the 
insulation  was  bad,  for  it  magnetized  and  stopped 
the  watches  in  the  pockets  of  the  passengers.  While 
pondering  over  this  electric  railway  and  its  mysteri- 
ous force,  as  I  sat  in  the  twilight  in  the  parlor  of 
the  old  Coates  House,  a  servant  came  in  to  light 
the  gas.  Instead  of  using  a  match,  he  turned  on 
the  gas,  took  a  few  gliding  steps  over  the  car- 
pet and  lit  the  gas  by  a  flash  of  electricity  from 
his  finger,  produced  by  touching  his  finger  against 
the  tip  of  the  gas  jet.  I  was  surprised  and  said, 
"Have  you  enough  fire  in  your  body  to  light  the 
gas?"  He  answered,  "Yes,  sir."  I  said,  "Can  you 
do  that  again?"  "Yes,  sir,"  and  he  turned  on 
another  jet  took  a  few  gliding  steps  over  the  car- 
pet, touched  the  tip  of  the  jet  with  his  finger ;  there 
was  a  flash  and  the  gas  was  lit. 

I  was  amazed,  for  this  was  a  new  electric  mani- 
festation to  me.  He  said,  "You  can  do  it,  sir." 
"Well,  I'll  see  if  I  can,"  and  I  took  a  few  gliding 
steps  over  the  carpet.  He  turned  on  the  gas, 
I  touched  the  jet  with  the  tip  of  my  finger  and  a 
flash  of  electric  fire,  an  inch  long,  lit  the  gas.  This 
I  did  many  times  afterwards  and  saw  a  dozen  others 
do  the  same  thing.  In  fact  the  servants  seldom  used 


8  PREFACE 

matches  in  that  parlor,  the  carpet  held  such  a  sur- 
plus of  electricity  most  any  person  could  by  a  few 
gliding  steps  increase  the  electricity  of  their  body 
so  they  could  light  the  gas  by  a  touch. 

Then  I  began  to  think — electric  fire  in  man's  body, 
in  the  clouds,  in  coal  and  wood,  on  the  telegraph 
line,  in  flint,  in  cold  steel — in  everything.  Electricity 
must  be  light,  heat,  life  and  creative  force,  and 
will  explain  the  mysteries  of  nature. 

In  the  hot,  dry  summer  of  1901,  when  The  Cities 
of  the  Sun*  was  issued,  my  publisher  called  me  to 
one  side  and  said  that  his  salesman  was  going 
out  West.  He  asked,  "If  he  offers  to  sell  your  book, 
which  says  the  sun  is  not  hot,  to  those  old  Kansas 
farmers,  won't  they  mob  him  and  hang  him  to  the 
first  available  tree?"  I  admitted  it  did  look  serious 
on  account  of  the  extreme  heat  then  afflicting  the 
West,  but  told  him  to  have  his  salesman  inform 
them  that  if  they  would  go  up  in  a  balloon  a  few 
thousand  feet  nearer  the  sun  they  would  freeze  to 
death,  ^nd^J:hat  if  they  had  an  arm  that  would 
reach  flfiSfthousand  feet  up  into  the  atmosphere  it 
would  freeze  to  the  elbow  in  less  than  thirty  min- 
utes, the  hottest  day  ever  known,  as  every  twja^l 
thousand  feet  upwards  from  the  earth  there  is  a 
loss  of  over  one  hundred  degrees  of  heat.  I  mention 
this  to  show  how  some  of  these  theories  may  shock 
the  sensibilities  of  some  unscientific  thinkers. 

All  scientists  declare  that  the  sun  is  a  burning 
globe  and  also  the  material  and  electric  center  of 
the  solar  system;  but  I  conceived  it  to  be  a 
living  world  like  our  earth,  only  more  prolific  in  life 

*  Published  by  G.  W.  Dillingham  Company,  N.  Y, 


PREFACE  9 

and  power,  and  the  intellectual  and  spiritual  center 
of  our  system  of  worlds.  I  believe  I  present  the 
only  reasonable  scientific  hypothesis  ever  presented 
in  the  history  of  the  human  race  which  shows  and 
explains  the  unity,  oneness  and  perfect  organism  of 
the  universe.  It  shows  that  the  universe  is  self- 
sustaining,  harmonious  and  eternal,  creating  its 
own  cosmic  light,  heat  and  life  in  the  magnetic 
atmosphere  of  its  suns  and  planets,  and  so  simple 
that  the  law  of  atoms  is  the  law  of  suns  and  worlds. 

With  the  able  assistance  of  the  many  scientists, 
electricians  and  specialists  who  have  recently  ac- 
cepted and  championed  these  theories,  and  the  pro- 
gress already  made,  they  bid  fair  to  soon  revolution- 
ize scientific  thought. 

The  time  will  come,  and  is  not  far  distant,  when 
those  who  believe  the  sun  is  hot,  or  a  burning 
globe  of  fire,  will  be  regarded  as  the  devotees  of  an 
antiquated  superstition.  The  enlightened  world  will 
look  upon  them  as  they  do  now  on  those  who  be- 
lieve in  witches,  human  slavery  and  that  the  earth 
is  flat;  and  will  pity  their  ignorance,  as  we  do 
those  who  worshipped  the  gods  of  Olympus. 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  UNIVERSE  IS  A  VAST  ELECTRIC  ORGANISM 

ELECTRICITY,  next  to  Deity,  is  the  most  remarkable 
entity  in  the  universe.  Its  marvelous  and  varied 
powers  and  utilities  create  a  new  epoch  in  scientific 
thought  and  discovery.  Its  study  is  replete  with 
new  and  fascinating  ideas  and  scientific  theories. 
It  contains  the  story  of  the  universe  more  sublime 
than  an  epic,  more  wonderful  than  a  romance.  It 
organized  the  machinery  of  the  worlds,  and  holds 
the  secrets  of  nature  and  the  mysteries  of  life  in 
its  invisible  grasp. 

Electricity  is  the  right  hand  of  Deity,  the  tongue 
of  the  Spirit,  the  Word  of  Omnipotent  power,  the 
protean  cosmic  force  and  creative  machinery  of  the 
universe.  At  the  divine  fiat  it  seized  all  atoms  and 
space,  it  shook  the  ether  into  nebula,  the  nebula 
into  worlds,  the  worlds  into  constellations,  the  con- 
stellations into  a  universe.  It  shaped  planets  and 
rounded  suns  and  hurled  them  forth  to  circle  in  the 
chorus  of  the  singing  spheres.  It  gave  form  and 
functions  to  all  matter  from  the  rounded  pebble  to 
the  stars;  from  the  raindrop  to  the  surging  seas; 
from  the  chirping  cricket  to  the  sporting  leviathan; 
from  the  helpless  infant  to  the  giant  man. 

It  is  the  messenger  and  executive  of  Creative  Will 
to  all  created  things.  It  is  the  ambassador  of  spirit 


12  THE  UNIVERSE 

to  matter,  the  autocrat  of  communication  between 
all  the  faculties  of  mind  and  all  the  functions  of 
physical  existence.  It  is  the  law  of  affinity  in  mat- 
ter, of  selection  in  atoms,  and  whispers  to  the  body 
the  intuitions  of  the  Spirit  and  guides  insensate 
worlds  to  do  the  will  of  Creative  Omnipotence. 

Electricity  is  the  wonderful  medium  and  agent  by 
which  mind  acts  upon  matter  and  works  the  miracle 
of  life  and  growth.  This  mightiest  servant  of  God 
and  man,  this  genii  greater  than  Aladdin's  lamp, 
impresses  all  laws  upon  nature,  and  makes  the  uni- 
verse obedient  to  the  will  of  Deity,  as  man's  body 
is  obedient  to  the  dictates  of  man's  mind.  This 
inscrutable  word  of  power  from  the  source  of  all 
power  is  beginning  to  supply  the  human  race  with 
an  inexhaustible  force  that  will  revolutionize  the 
earth  and  link  all  nations  together  as  one  family 
in  a  millennium  of  peace  and  good  will. 

Human  life  seems  to  throb,  pulsate,  gleam  and 
glow  in  this  marvelous  current  of  existence,  which 
causes  illumination,  transportation,  telegraphy,  pho- 
tography, surgery,  horticulture,  agriculture,  met- 
allurgy and  manufacture  to  step  forth  as  master 
magicians  to  work  miracles  for  the  comfort  and 
happiness  of  mankind.  Every  new  discovery,  every 
step  in  the  progress  of  electrical  science  conquers 
time,  destroys  distances,  diffuses  knowledge,  dissi- 
pates ignorance,  encourages  friendship  and  draws 
men  and  nations  closer  and  closer  by  physical  ties 
and  spiritual  affinities.  Where  once  noisy  ponderous 
mechanism  pounded  the  rocks  to  release  the  metals, 
electrical  science  with  her  unseen  but  resistless  cur- 
rents instantly  separate  the  ore  and  the  dross. 
Where  the  soot-begrimed  engineer  seizes  the  heavy  iron 


A  VAST  ELECTRIC  ORGANISM  13 

throttle,  she  cleanly  and  softly  touches  a  tiny  button 
and  the  miracle  is  wrought — the  heavy  steed  of 
steel  receives  its  life  not  from  smoking,  hissing, 
fussing  steam,  but  from  an  energy  as  silent  as 
light  and  as  potent  as  Omnipotence. 

This  invisible  electrical  energy,  without  brush  or 
color,  paints  the  gorgeous  beauties  of  the  rainbow, 
and  photographs  in  every  ray  of  light  and  on  every 
human  eye  the  moving  panorama  of  every  passing 
scene.  It  telegraphs  between  mind  and  matter,  be- 
tween soul  and  body,  between  suns  and  planets,  and 
gives  life  and  energy  to  all  the  varied  functions  of 
this  electric  magnetic  universe.  This  strange,  miracu- 
lous power  has  taken  its  place  as  the  supreme  force 
of  all  forces,  the  ultimate  elemental  force  from  which 
all  other  physical  forces  are  derived,  and,  without 
fuel  or  expense,  flies  with  its  burdens  swifter  than 
the  flight  of  eagles. 

It  is  the  last  and  greatest  progeny  of  man  genius 
and  discovery,  the  seventh  daughter  of  science, 
who  dips  her  wand  in  the  impossible  and  miracu- 
lous until  miracles  become  prolific  and  common. 
Its  power  and  expression  are  universal  and  its  char- 
acter and  process  superlatively  grand.  Its  theatre 
of  action  is  the  universe  and  it  comes  to  earth  as 
the  voice  of  Deity  and  the  word  of  His  Omnipotence. 

This  science  of  the  impossible,  this  daughter  of 
miracles,  is  destined  to  outstrip  all  past  achieve- 
ments. The  ponderous  and  noisy  mechanisms  will 
pass  away,  the  barren  rocks  will  change  into  most 
precious  things,  the  sunlight  will  be  converted  into 
reservoirs  of  power,  and  every  raindrop  and  water- 
fall, ocean  tide  and  wind  current,  will  reveal  exhaust- 
less  sources  of  wealth  and  energy.  Then  will  the 


14  THE  UNIVERSE 

ancient  curse,  "by  the  sweat  of  thy  brow  shalt  thou 
eat  bread,"  be  removed,  and  agriculture  and  com- 
merce will  be  conducted  without  the  drudgery  of 
toil  or  the  weariness  of  labor,  and  the  earth  shall 
blossom  at  the  touch  of  the  silent  electric  forces 
which  man  will  harness  to  his  car  of  progress  and 
power.  Manufacture  will  then  be  automatic  and 
the  web  she  will  weave  in  her  silent  loom  will  not 
be  wet  with  the  tears  of  imprisoned  childhood,  or 
the  agonizing  sweat  of  dungeoned  manhood. 

Omnipotence  follows  her  footsteps  and  with  the 
blessings  of  heaven  she  comes  as  a  friend  to  relieve 
pain  and  toil  and  elevate  and  glorify  humanity. 
Her  power  is  as  boundless  as  space  and  as  uni- 
versal as  heaven's  love. 

For  she  comes  with  the  Omnipotent  power  of 
Deity  to  relieve  the  burdens  of  toil,  lift  up  the  op- 
pressed of  the  earth,  and  give  man  leisure  for  men- 
tal improvement  and  social  elevation. 

Electricity,  I  contend,  is  the  invisible  force  which 
evolves  form  and  substance  and  all  visible  things. 
Matter  is  but  the  outer  garment  of  these  invisible 
electric  forces.  It  is  Spirit  which  creates  psychic  life, 
and  makes  life  the  cause  instead  of  the  consequence 
of  organism.  It  is  electricity  which  evolved  the 
physical  universe  and  makes  it  a  vast  electric  or- 
ganism bound  together  by  invisible  electric  ties, 
where  its  invisible  forces  are  the  cause  instead  of  the 
consequence  of  physical  organism.  These  are  the 
basic  differences  between  the  materialistic  science  of 
the  past  and  the  psycho-electric  science  of  the  present. 
In  the  past  science  investigated  only  visible  material 
effects  and  ignored  the  supreme  invisible  forces  and 
laws  which  evolved  and  produced  them. 


A  VAST  ELECTRIC  ORGANISM  15 

This  is  an  age  of  dominant  mind,  the  develop- 
ment of  a  cycle  of  invisible  forces.  The  past  century 
was  the  age  of  matter.  It  is  said  Darwin,  Tyndall, 
Haeckel  and  Huxley  did  a  work  which  had  to  be 
done.  But  their  work  was  limited  to  chemical  and 
biological  demonstration.  It  was  science,  but  science 
of  the  old  school.  The  discoveries  since  made  in  the 
domain  of  electricity  and  mental  transmission  make 
their  discoveries  seem  trivial  in  comparison. 

Francis  Grierson  says  :  "The  discoveries  and  in- 
ventions of  the  past  ten  years  have  made  child's  play 
of  every  previously  known  system  of  philosphy. 
The  simple  but  amazing  facts  disclosed  during  the 
past  five  years  render  the  dreams,  speculations  and 
guesswork  of  the  past  absurd.  The  little  we  know 
in  a  practical  way  is  more  than  all  the  philosophers 
of  the  past  knew,  from  Aristotle  to  Liebnitz." 

I  contend  that  the  universe  is  a  vast  electric  or- 
ganism. That  all  light,  heat,  and  vital  force  is 
generated  by  electric  energy  in  the  dense  magnetic 
atmosphere  of  suns  and  planets,  where  alone  it  is 
needed  for  animal  and  vegetable  life,  and  in  vol- 
canic pockets  or  circuits  in  the  outer  crust  of  these 
bodies  caused  by  electric  repulsion.  That  the  uni- 
verse began  in  extreme  cold,  not  heat,  that  the 
suns  are  not  hot,  but  are  self-luminous,  perfected 
worlds,  and  like  our  earth,  except  greater  and  more 
prolific  in  life  and  power.  I  also  contend  it  is  as 
reasonable  to  bury  an  iron  ship  in  the  icebergs  of 
the  Arctic  seas  and  expect  it  to  become  "red  hot," 
as  to  expect  the  sun,  planets  or  any  body  travel- 
ing through  space  460  degrees  colder  than  those 
icebergs  to  become  "hot,  red  hot  or  molten,"  as  the 
astronomers  say  the  sun  is.  All  light,  heat,  vital 


16  THE  UNIVERSE 

force  and  physical  life  is  created  by  contact  of  op- 
posite electrical  polarities  in  the  magnetic  cushion 
surrounding  all  suns  and  planets. 

The  sun  furnishes  the  positive  electricity  and  the 
planet  or  satellite  the  negative,  and  from  these  two 
spring  all  the  cosmic  and  material  forces  of  the 
universe.  The  electric  currents  of  the  sun  create 
induced  magnetic  currents  on  the  earth,  which  evolves 
all  visible  substance  and  life  forms. 

The  earth  at  its  center  is  a  magnet  of  crystalline 
rock  and  varied  metals,  placed  layer  upon  layer  as  a 
thermopile  or  voltaic  battery,  which  constitutes  the 
solid  core  of  the  earth  magnet,  and  draws  and 
holds  all  matter  and  substance  atoms  and  atmos- 
phere close  to  its  magnetic  heart,  so  that  nothing 
can  be  thrown  off  of  its  vast  surface,  though  it 
shoots  through  space  fifty  times  faster  than  a  bul- 
let from  a  rifle  and  whirls  round  with  the  speed  of  a 
revolving  cylinder  of  a  dynamo.  Its  swift  duplicate 
motion  makes  it  a  working  battery  or  arc  dynamo 
of  marvelous  power.  It  draws  all  things  to  its 
magnetic  center  as  the  magnetic  core  of  a  steel  mag- 
net draws  filings  of  iron  and  other  metals  to  its 
magnetic  surface,  and  they  cluster  there  in  the 
same  spherical  form. 

This  earth  magnet  drew  countless  meteors,  swarms 
of  nebulae  and  invisible  matter  from  surrounding 
space,  and  grew  in  size  and  magnetic  power  as  a 
steel  magnet  may  grow  by  adding  other  countless 
magnets  with  their  increasing  power  and  growing 
accretions.  For  my  theory  is  that  every  atom  is 
a  tiny  magnet,  and  every  molecule,  meteor  and 
visible  form  of  matter  is  a  combination  and  aggrega- 
tion of  magnets. 


A  VAST  ELECTRIC  ORGANISM  17 

Aside  from  the  theory  of  magnets,  this  is  not  far 
from  Lockyer  and  Proctor's  theory  of  the  stellar 
formation.  Norman  Lockyer  says  :  "The  stellar  con- 
stitution may  be  explained  by  supposing  it  to  arise 
from  cool  meteoric  swarms  represented  by  the  neb- 
ulas and  the  rise  of  temperature  due  to  contrac- 
tion toward  a  centre."  And  he  adds  :  "In  the  stars 
we  have  celestial  furnaces  the  heat  of  which  trans- 
cends that  of  our  most  powerful  electric  sparks." 
In  this  heat  theory  I  think  he  is  radically  wrong. 
The  rise  of  temperature  on  the  sun  and  earth,  I 
contend,  is  not  from  contraction,  which  is  both  in- 
sufficient and  too  irregular  to  be  considered.  But 
it  did  arise  from  the  growth  in  power  and  size  of 
the  earth  as  a  great  magnet,  so  that  as  a  great 
arc  dynamo  it  began  to  throb  with  electric  energy, 
and,  by  drawing  to  itself  powerful  currents  from 
space  and  from  the  sun,  the  central  electric  heart 
of  its  organism,  it  began  to  generate  heat  and 
light  in  its  own  environment,  which  in  time  be- 
came translucent  to  the  sun's  rays,  and,  instead  of 
the  sun  and  earth  losing  their  light  and  heating 
power,  they  are  steadily  increasing  them. 

It  is  thus  apparent  that  all  light,  heat,  physical 
organisms  and  vegetable  and  animal  life  are  evolved 
and  exist  only  in  the  magnetic  atmosphere  of  suns 
and  planets. 

The  light  we  see  does  not  come  from  the  sun  or 
stars;  it  is  generated  in  our  own  atmosphere.  No 
man  ever  saw  the  sun  or  stars;  they  see  the  rays 
of  light  which  photograph  them  in  our  atmosphere. 
They  see  pictures  of  them  at  the  end  of  the  ray 
emanating  from  them,  but  some  of  these  rays  have 
been  two  hundred  years  in  reaching  us. 
2 


18  THE  UNIVERSE 

It  takes  light  over  four  years  to  reach  us  from 
the  star  nearest  our  earth,  so  it  is  plain  we  do  not 
see  these  stars. 

As  to  the  heat  of  the  sun,  there  has  been  a  vast 
difference  of  opinion  among  scientists.  Newton  held 
it  to  be  1,669,300  degrees  hot;  Erickson,  2,726,000 
degrees  hot;  Sacchi,  2,000,000  to  6,000,000  degrees; 
Waterson,  9,000,000  to  10,000,000,  and  Soret, 
5,800,000  degrees  hot.  But  since  the  discovery  of 
the  law  of  the  conservation  of  energy,  which  is  only 
about  a  hundred  years  old,  the  scientists  have  been 
hedging  and  crawfishing  with  wonderful  dexterity 
and  reducing  it,  until  now  18,000  to  20,000  degrees 
are  accepted  as  possibly  correct. 

As  Newton  was  a  great  mathematician  and  the 
scientists  accept  him  on  other  scientific  questions, 
they  ought  to  accept  him  on  the  sun's  heat,  and 
.acknowledge  a  fact  that  ought  to  be  apparent  to 
all — that  if  heat  comes  to  the  earth  from  the  sun, 
in  a  column  93,000,000  miles  long  and  8,000  miles 
in  diameter  through  frigid  ether  460  degrees  colder 
than  ice,  the  sun  must  be  millions  of  degrees  hot. 
Then,  as  nothing  in  the  known  universe  can  exist  a 
million  or  even  twenty  thousand  degrees  hot,  they 
should  admit  the  sun  is  not  hot,  and  no  heat  comes 
from  the  sun  to  the  earth.  Only  electric  currents 
come  from  the  sun,  which  generate  heat  and  light 
in  our  own  atmosphere. 

Then  arises  another  question.  All  bodies  lose 
their  magnetic  power  when  heated  to  less  than  one 
thousand  degrees  hot.  Professor  Fleming  in  his 
book,  "Magnets  and  Electric  Currents"  says  :  "  Mag- 
netic bodies  become  changed  into  feeble  magnetic 
ones  by  heating  to  a  certain  temperature.  Iron  at 


A  VAST  ELECTRIC  ORGANISM  19 

its  critical  temperature,  690  degrees  to  870  degrees 
or  a  light  red  heat,  loses  all  its  strong  magnetic 
qualities.  In  the  same  way  nickel  loses  them  at 
300  degrees."  Thus  we  have  the  sun  at  even  1,000 
degrees  hot  deprived  of  its  magnetic  power  and  un- 
able to  control  the  solar  system.  Prof.  T.  C.  Men- 
denhal,  in  a  recent  article  in  Harper's  Magazine, 
says:  "The  electrical  resistance  of  pure  metals 
diminishes  at  a  rate  which  indicates  that  at  abso- 
lute zero  it  would  vanish  and  these  metals  would 
become  perfect  conductors  of  electricity."  Thus 
cold  increases  and  heat  diminishes  the  electric  energy 
of  metals  and  all  substances. 

In  my  previous  book,  The  Cities  of  the  Sun,  I 
have  given  over  fifty  reasons  why  the  sun  is  not  hot. 
Among  them  I  may  mention,  first,  because  of  the 
extreme  cold  that  prevails  in  the  upper  atmosphere 
of  the  earth,  through  which  the  sun's  rays  must 
pass,  but  whose  temperature  they  cannot  alter. 
Second,  because  the  sun's  rays  must  traverse  93,- 
000,000  miles  of  space  between  sun  and  earth,  which 
is  460  degrees  colder  than  ice,  which  would  make  it 
impossible  for  them  to  retain  any  degree  of  heat 
whatever.  If  heat  comes  from  the  sun  it  must  come 
in  a  column  93,000,000  miles  long,  865,000  miles  in 
diameter,  converging  to  8,000  miles  at  the  earth's 
surface,  which  would  destroy  the  sun  or  any  known 
body  in  the  universe  to  furnish  such  heat.  Third,  be- 
cause the  perpetual  snow  upon  the  mountains  even 
in  the  tropics  show  the  sun's  rays  bring  no  heat 
to  the  earth,  or  the  snow  would  be  melted  by  the 
first  and  greatest  volume  of  heat  from  the  sun. 
Fourth,  because  if  heat  came  from  the  sun  there 
could  be  no  clouds  in  our  atmosphere,  for  the  heat 


20  THE  UNIVERSE 

of  the  sun  would  strike  them  first,  and  greater  heat 
above  the  cloud  level  would  prevent  their  formation 
and  forever  banish  them  from  our  skies. 

Fifth,  because  heat  by  the  law  of  its  nature  is 
diffusive,  and  cannot  be  shot  from  one  sun  or  planet 
to  another,  or  forced  through  space  like  a  leaden 
ball  or  other  substance,  but  is  soon  dissipated 
in  the  cold  ether  of  space.  Sixth,  the  sun  is  not 
hot  because  comets  have  passed  three  hundred 
thousand  miles  through  the  sun's  corona  without 
visible  change  or  injury,  which  would  be  impossible 
if  the  sun  is  excessively  hot,  for  the  comet,  coming 
from  outer  space,  must  be  intensely  cold,  and  exces- 
sive heat  in  the  sun  would  explode  and  destroy  it. 
This  argument  alone  should  destroy  the  hoary 
headed  superstition  that  the  sun  is  hot.  Seventh, 
heat  does  not  come  from  the  sun,  because  there  is 
no  such  thing  as  heat.  Heat  is  simply  a  sensation ; 
it  is  not  a  substance  or  an  entity.  It  is  a  sensation 
caused  by  the  increased  activity  of  the  molecules 
of  which  a  body  is  composed,  and,  is  produced  by 
electric  currents.  I  hold  the  sun  is  not  a  thermal 
or  heating  engine,  as  the  astronomers  claim,  but  an 
electric  generator  which  is  not  hot  and  does  not 
need  to  be  hot.  I  repudiate  the  law  of  gravity  and 
adopt  electricity  as  the  evolving  force  of  the  uni- 
verse. 

As  the  sun  is  745  times  larger  than  all  the  planets 
of  the  solar  system  combined,  and  controls  the  life 
and  energy  of  the  solar  system  by  all  laws  of  ana- 
logy and  distribution  in  the  universe,  it  should  be 
more  highly  endowed  writh  all  the  elements  of  growth, 
living  forms  and  intellectual  organisms  than  all 
the  planets  combined.  Therefore,  the  sun  should  be 


A  VAST  ELECTRIC  ORGANISM  21 

the  spiritual  and  intellectual  center  as  well  as  the 
physical  and  electric  center  of  our  system  of  worlds, 
the  headquarters  of  Deity  and  the  future  abode  of 
man.  No  life  could  come  from  a  hot  or  burning 
sun  or  world,  yet  all  animal  and  vegetable  life 
comes  from  the  all  life-giving  energy  of  the  sun. 
Heat  is  not  life-giving,  it  is  not  even  a  substance 
or  a  force.  Heat  does  not  exist  except  as  a  sensa- 
tion created  by  the  increased  activity  of  the  mole- 
cules of  which  the  body  is  composed.  This  increased 
activity  is  caused  by  currents  or  waves  of  electricity 
passing  through  a  body  or  substance.  Cold  is  the 
absence  of  heat  or  lack  of  motion  of  the  molecules 
of  a  body  or  substance,  and,  like  heat,  is  not  a 
reality,  a  substance  or  a  thing,  but  only  a  sensation. 
Heat  and  cold  are  produced  by  electricity,  and  are 
sensations  resulting  from  electrical  conditions.  Heat 
is  not  a  creator ;  electricity  is  the  creator  and  heat 
is  its  servant,  and  only  one  of  its  thousand-fold 
expressions.  Electricity  creates  the  activity  of  the 
molecules  which  gives  the  sensation  of  heat.  A  per- 
son standing  in  the  sun  on  a  hot  day  receives  cur- 
rents of  electricity  which  were  not  hot  when  they 
left  the  sun,  but  only  became  so  when  they  came 
in  contact  with  the  earth's  opposite  electricity  near 
the  earth's  surface.  These  currents  produce  the 
sensation  of  heat.  The  sun  is  not  a  burning  globe, 
or  blazing  world  of  fire;  it  is  an  enormous  magnet 
of  measureless  power,  thirteen  hundred  thousand 
times  larger  than  the  earth  magnet  on  which  we 
live.  It  revolves  on  its  enormous  axis  at  the  rate 
of  four  thousand  miles  an  hour  and  is  thus  con- 
stituted a  working  magnet  or  arc  dynamo,  drawing 
electric  energy  from  its  vast  electric  field,  embracing 


22  THE  UNIVERSE 

the  solar  system,  six  billions  of  miles  in  diameter. 
Of  this  electricity,  it  uses  for  its  own  light,  heat, 
and  vital  force  what  it  needs,  and  the  balance  is 
thrown  off  to  its  luminous  corona  or  photosphere, 
where  it  is  shot  by  the  law  of  electric  repulsion  in 
the  sun  and  electric  attraction  in  the  planets  to  the 
earth  and  plants.  The  brilliancy  of  the  sun  is  caused 
by  its  surplus  electricity  creating  a  luminous  aurora 
which  extends  from  its  poles  to  its  equator. 

Newton  discovered  an  imaginary  force.  Newton 
had  an  imagination  which  the  scientific  plodders 
who  came  after  him  lacked.  They  have  dug  in  the 
dirt,  while  he  sailed  through  azure  seas  and  linked 
suns  and  worlds  together  by  the  mere  sweep  of  the 
imagination,  without  any  explanation  or  conceiv- 
able cause,  and  called  it  gravity.  He  might  just 
as  well  have  called  it  weight  or  ponderosity,  which 
means  the  same  as  gravity.  And  the  scientists  fol- 
lowed him  and  accepted  his  theory  of  gravity,  which 
means  nothing  and  explains  nothing.  It  was  the 
best  they  could  do,  as  he  had  an  imagination  and 
an  idea  and  they  had  none.  Thus  the  blind  led 
the  blind  for  two  centuries,  until  electricity  and  its 
invisible  forces  were  discovered,  and  a  new  field  for 
thought  and  causation  was  opened  up. 

Let  us  suppose  that  space  and  the  invisible  atoms 
or  star  dust  which  permeate  it  are  seized  by  electric 
energy,  creating  a  boundless  sea  of  invisible  electro- 
magnetism,  which  began  to  vibrate  to  the  law  of 
action  and  reaction,  attraction  and  repulsion.  Un- 
der this  law  every  atom  became  a  tiny  magnet, 
and  electric  centers  are  formed  which  are  the  foun- 
dation stones  and  nuclei  of  growing  suns  and 
worlds;  and  invisible  atoms,  nebulas  and  finally 


A  VAST  ELECTRIC  ORGANISM  23 

meteors  are  drawn  by  electric  energy  and  woven 
by  magnetic  force  or  induced  electric  currents  into 
orderly  layers  of  crystalline  rock  and  varied  metals, 
forming  a  vast  thermopile,  galvanic  battery,  work- 
ing magnet,  and  electric  dynamo  all  combined. 
By  the  law  of  electric  attraction  all  matter  would 
tend  toward  a  common  center,  and  in  that  common 
center  would  be  found  the  vast  central  magnet-sun, 
sphere  and  dynamo  many  times  larger  and  more 
powerful  than  all  the  others  combined.  As  each 
grew  in  size  their  electric  potentiality  would  be 
increased,  their  electric  and  magnetic  attractions 
multiplied,  and  their  revolution  upon  their  axis 
and  their  orbit  motion  would  be  accelerated  to  a 
marvelous  extent,  giving  them  measureless  force 
and  power. 

Herbert  Spencer  affirms  that  space  is  eternal  and 
has  always  existed.  We  will  suppose  the  same  of 
matter  in  its  elemental  form,  known  as  the  atom, 
and  we  will  venture  also  to  assert  that  force  is  a 
substance  like  matter,  but  a  thousand  times  more 
refined  and  invisible  than  the  atom,  and  we  will 
call  it  the  electric  ion,  or  electron. 

Thus  we  have  three  indestructible,  invisible  enti- 
ties— space,  matter  and  force — which  have  existed 
eternally  and  which  constitute  the  basic  founda- 
tion and  fallow  ground  of  primeval  chaos,  which 
was  the  beginning  of  the  universe.  Then  stars  and 
planets,  suns  and  worlds  were  transparent  ether, 
as  impalpable  as  the  viewless  air,  and  scattered  as 
star-dust  in  the  measureless  void  of  space  along 
the  forgotten  highways  of  the  eternities.  Silence 
reigned  profound  in  the  pulseless  regions  of  the  air 
where,  motionless  and  dumb,  the  atoms  hung  in  dark 


24  THE  UNIVERSE 

and  lifeless  space.  There  was  nothing  in  all  that 
seemingly  chaotic  universe;  nothing  but  cold,  dark- 
ness and  silence.  But  these  are  the  home  of  atoms 
and  ions,  the  star  dust  and  cosmic  force,  creative 
Deity  had  scattered  by  the  breath  of  His  power 
through  the  highways  of  space  in  the  beginning  of 
primeval  creation.  While  these  seem  as  nothing  to 
man,  they  are  the  foundation  stones  of  all  creation. 

This  nothingness  of  space  was  the  fallow  ground  of 
the  universe  and  the  formless  shadow  of  suns  and 
worlds.  It  was  a  universe  in  solution,  as  viewless 
as  either  and  as  intangible  as  mind.  The  electric 
energy  of  space  was  yet  unstirred  by  the  divine  fiat 
or  shook  into  vibrating  force  by  the  word  of  crea- 
tive power. 

Then  at  the  creative  behest,  "  Let  There  Be  Light," 
the  ions  of  force,  like  an  electric  clothing  of  light 
and  life,  leaped  into  power,  permeated  all  atoms, 
and  wrapped  as  in  swaddling  clothes  a  new-born 
universe.  Then  atoms  and  ions  of  electric  force 
met  in  fond  and  unending  embrace,  substance  and 
energy  clasped  hands,  and  matter  and  persistent 
force  were  woven  into  each  otner's  arms  and  satu- 
rated with  electric  life-giving  energy. 

The  sun  magnet,  being  larger  and  more  powerful 
than  all  the  others  combined,  would  hold  the  others 
we  call  planets  in  the  magnetic  field  of  his  sovereign 
power,  and  become  the  electric  heart  and  command- 
ing force  of  his  system  of  world  magnets.  He  would 
draw  his  electric  life  and  energy  from  his  vast  elec- 
tric magnetic  field  embracing  his  solar  system, 
which  with  our  sun  is  six  billions  of  miles  in  diam- 
eter. 

As  these  bodies  grew  in    size   under   the   law   of 


A  VAST  ELECTRIC  ORGANISM  25 

electric  attraction,  which  draws  all  matter  toward 
a  common  center,  they  would  become  more  and  more 
compressed,  dense  and  stable,  until  they  attained 
their  natural  equilibrium  of  balanced  forces  and 
assumed  their  permanent  form  and  solidity.  Then 
they  would  assume  their  normal  velocity  of  revo- 
lution on  their  axis,  and  their  orbital  motion  along 
evenly  balanced  lines  of  force,  without  friction  or 
change,  for  countless  ages.  All  suns  and  planets 
revolve  on  their  axis  under  the  law  of  electro-mag- 
netism by  which  electric  currents  of  force  pass 
through  their  centers  at  their  poles,  and  mag  ?tic 
currents  of  equal  force  pass  one  way  around  them, 
creating  their  diurnal  motion. 

This  law  is  briefly  stated  by  a  standard  work  on 
electricity:  "A  wire  or  any  conductor  having  a 
current  of  electricity  passing  through  it  has  lines 
of  magnetic  force  passing  one  way  around  it,  and 
the  number  is  in  direct  ratio  to  the  quantity  of 
current  passing  through  the  wire.  This  magnetic 
effect  is  strongest  close  to  the  wire,  and  decreases 
inversely  as  the  square  of  the  distance."  This  is  a 
marvelous  combination  of  the  dual  forces  of  electric- 
ity, which  operates  as  a  wonderful  mechanical  con- 
trivance to  spin  the  heavenly  orbs  on  their  poles, 
like  a  top  is  spun  by  a  string  or  band  around  it 
or  like  the  cylinder  of  a  dynamo  is  revolved  by 
its  leather  bands  or  a  water  wheel  turned  by  the 
swift  current  of  a  river.  By  reason  of  this  law,  all 
suns  and  planets  revolve  on  their  electric  centers 
at  their  poles.  The  great  electric  currents  from  the 
sun  eight  thousand  miles  in  diameter  and  ninety- 
three  million  miles  in  length,  like  a  mighty,  inex- 
haustible river  of  force  and  power,  cause  the  earth 


26  THE  UNIVERSE 

to  turn  over,  as  a  water-wheel  is  turned  by  the 
swift  current  of  a  river.  This  vast  stream  or  cur- 
rent of  invisible  power,  when  it  starts  from  the 
photosphere  of  the  sun,  is  865,000  miles  in  diam- 
eter and  is  narrowed  to  a  focus  of  8,000  miles  at 
the  earth's  surface,  thus  increasing  its  force  and 
power  a  thousand-fold.  The  largest  river  on  the 
earth  is  180  miles  wide  at  its  mouth  and  about 
3,000  miles  long,  but  what  an  insignificant  rivulet 
it  is  in  contrast  with  this  vast,  invisible,  omnipotent 
stream  of  electric  life-giving  power,  constantly  pass- 
ing to  and  fro  from  sun  to  earth  and  from  earth 
to  sun. 

Think  of  its  marvelous  speed !  While  the  swiftest 
current  of  a  river  or  the  speed  of  a  railroad  train 
is  scarcely  fifty  miles  an  hour,  this  mighty  electric 
tide  comes  with  the  speed  of  light  186,000  miles  a 
second,  or  almost  12,000,000  of  miles  an  hour; 
and  it  turns  the  earth  over  at  the  rate  of  a  thou- 
sand miles  an  hour  by  its  lines  of  magnetic  force, 
just  as  the  swift  tide  of  a  river  turns  the  water- 
wheel  of  a  mill.  And  that  the  earth  may  turn  more 
surely  and  steadily,  it  has  vast  mountain  ranges 
running  north  and  south  from  its  poles,  such  as  the 
Andes  and  the  Himalayas  on  opposite  sides  of  its 
surface,  and  other  ranges  scattered  between,  to  act 
as  extending  flanges  and  paddles,  like  those  on  a 
water-wheel,  to  enable  this  vast  electric  tide  to  turn 
it  more  readily,  and,  like  the  brushes  on  an  electric 
dynamo,  to  generate  and  draw  electric  currents 
from  earth  and  sky,  and  moisture  from  the  clouds, 
to  bless  and  fertilize  the  earth  and  make  it  the 
theatre  of  man's  life  and  activities. 

Beneath  these  mountain  ranges  and  in  the  outer 


A  VAST  ELECTRIC  ORGANISM  27 

crust  of  its  surface  are  many  cavities  or  openings  we 
call  volcanoes  connected  by  powerful  currents  of 
magnetism  constantly  circulating  from  the  equator 
to  the  poles;  and  when  there  is  an  influx  of  water 
or  other  substance  sufficient  to  generate  electric 
resistance  and  repulsion,  a  fuse  burns  out  in  the 
circuit  at  that  point,  the  volcano  sparks,  blazes, 
explodes  with  great  force,  and  shoots  its  molten 
lava  into  the  clouds,  or,  like  Mount  Pelee,  blows 
its  head  off. 

Another  simple  illustration  of  the  universe  as  a 
vast  electric  mechanism  is  the  electric  street-car 
system  in  our  cities.  The  sun  represents  the  great 
central  power  house  where  the  electric  power  is 
generated. 

The  planets  represent  the  cars,  which  revolve 
on  their  axis  and  speed  forward  by  the  same  force 
and  in  almost  the  same  manner  as  the  planets 
revolve  on  their  poles  and  continue  in  their  orbital 
lines  of  force.  The  trolley  wire  and  current  are  the 
cars'  electric  line  of  force  and  they  come  and  go  in 
their  circuit  propelled  by  the  electric  generator  at 
the  central  power  house,  in  very  much  the  same 
way  as  the  planets  revolve  and  come  and  go  on 
their  orbital  circuits  around  the  sun  by  the  moving 
force  and  electric  power  of  the  sun. 

The  circuit  of  the  electric  current  on  the  car  line 
starts  from  the  dynamo  at  the  power  house  and  re- 
turns along  the  rails  or  through  the  earth  back  to 
the  dynamo.  In  like  manner,  the  vast  electric  cur- 
rents of  the  sun  pass  to  the  earth  through  the 
ether  without  wires  and  do  the  lighting,  heating 
and  cosmic  life-work,  and  return  to  the  sun  com- 
pleting their  circuit ;  and  the  earth  sends  its  electric 


28  THE  UNIVERSE 

currents  to  the  sun  and  they  return  to  the  earth 
through  the  ether  in  the  same  manner  and  com- 
plete their  circuit.  Thus  there  are  vast  highways 
and  boulevards  of  ek.cric  currents  passing  from 
suns  to  planets  and  from  planets  to  suns  which  are 
pathways  to  the  stars  and  the  great  highways 
of  eternity,  on  which  invisible  atoms,  and  perhaps 
invisible  human  souls,  may  pass  from  earth  to  suns 
and  central  suns.  In  the  future,  man  will  turn  the 
searchlight  of  investigation  upon  electricity  as  the 
universal  operating  cause  of  all  physical  phenomena. 
He  will  solve  the  riddle  of  the  universe  by  its  subtle 
invisible  forces.  He  will  cease  to  regard  creation 
as  vast  constellations  of  burning  spheres  whirling 
through  frigid  ether.  He  will  look  upon  it  with 
wonder  and  inspiration  as  a  vast  self-controlling, 
life-evolving,  varied  but  unchanging  unity,  a  perfect 
whole — a  vast  electric  organism  of  omnipotent  power 
and  eternal  existence.  He  will  regard  electricity  as 
the  finger  touch  of  Deity  that  makes  the  world  go 
round,  that  marks  out  the  orbits  of  suns  and  the 
pathway  of  constellations,  and  guides  them  in  their 
mysterious  courses  to  their  eternal  and  inscrutable 
destiny. 


CHAPTER  II 

ELECTRICITY    PRODUCES    ALL    THE    PHENOMENA   OF 
NATURE 

I  CONTEND  that  electricity  produces  all  the  phenom- 
ena of  nature — that  it  is  the  ever  active  agent  in 
evolving  visible  forms  and  substances  whose  results 
are  known  as  laws.  Man  is  the  most  perfect  en- 
foldment  of  nature's  electric  laws,  and  the  world 
and  the  universe  are  the  universal  expression  of  elec- 
tric life  and  energy. 

Man  and  all  the  visible  forms  of  creation  are 
woven  from  invisible  ether  by  electric  forces,  and,  as 
man's  will  and  thoughts  are  the  governing  force  of 
his  electric  organism,  so  simple  and  universal  are 
the  laws  of  nature  that  the  will  and  thoughts  of 
Deity,  by  electric  energy,  are  the  controlling  law  and 
force  of  the  universe,  and  the  ultimate  cause  pro- 
ducing all  causes,  all  creations,  and  all  tangible 
forms. 

The  natural  world  is  the  product  of  matter,  and 
force  and  all  matter  is  one  matter  represented  by 
the  invisible  atom,  and  all  physical  force  is  one  force, 
being  the  varied  manifestations  of  electric  energy. 
For  the  natural  world  is  the  spiritual  unfoldment 
made  manifest  by  electric  power. 

Therefore  all  the  varied  phenomena  of  nature,  the 
revolution  of  the  earth  on  its  axis  and  in  its  orbit 


30  THE  UNIVERSE 

around  the  sun,  the  brilliant  light  and  governing 
power  of  the  sun,  the  circling  stars,  the  blazing 
comet,  the  shooting  meteor,  the  gorgeous  rainbow, 
the  luminous  aurora,  and  the  dazzling  corona  are 
all  expressions  of  electric  power.  The  lightning  in 
the  cloud,  the  reverberations  of  thunder,  the  ebb 
and  flow  of  the  tides,  the  wind  currents  in  the  air, 
the  swaying  of  the  forest,  the  variations  of  heat 
and  cold,  the  falling  of  snow,  the  rain  drop  and 
the  dew  are  all  electric  manifestations. 

You  cannot  raise  your  arm,  lift  your  foot,  or 
move  your  body  except  by  electric  energy.  You 
cannot  see  or  hear  or  feel  or  taste  or  smell  or  exer- 
cise any  of  the  functions  of  the  body  without  bring- 
ing to  your  aid  the  electric  force  which  permeates 
all  forms  and  substance.  Electricity  creates  the 
mystery  of  physical  life  and  provides  the  food  and 
sustenance  necessary  to  its  growth  and  develop- 
ment. Electricity  works  the  miracle  of  digestion 
and  assimilation  and  converts  inert  matter  into 
blood  and  bone,  tissue  and  muscle,  and  organizes 
man's  body  into  an  electric  machine,  and  runs  it 
as  truly  and  perfectly  by  electric  energy  as  the 
electric  motor  or  generator  is  run  by  electricity. 
Man  draws  his  electric  life  currents  from  the  air 
into  the  lungs  as  a  great  electric  reservoir,  there 
it  purifies  and  energizes  the  blood  and  sends  it  as 
an  electric  fluid  and  circulating  magnetic  current 
through  every  part  of  the  body,  causing  the  heart 
valves  to  pulsate  with  measureless  force  and  the 
human  machine  to  throb  with  intense  life  and  power. 

The  heart  throbs  and  pulse  beats  of  man's  body 
are  but  the  rythmic  whir  and  vibrations  of  the 
human  electric  machine.  Man  makes  electrical  ma- 


PRODUCES  PHENOMENA  OP  NATURE  31 

chines  of  wood  and  glass  and  metal,  but  nature 
makes  them  of  flesh  and  blood  and  of  all  matter 
and  substance.  Nature,  the  all-wise  and  mysterious 
necromancer,  makes  nothing  but  electric  machines 
from  the  infinitesimal  atom  to  the  self-luminous 
perfected  dynamos — the  suns  and  stars.  All  things 
that  exist  are  electric  generators  or  electric  creations 
of  marvelous  construction,  power  and  utility;  and 
all  expressions  of  form  and  power,  all  visible  objects, 
and  all  the  varied  phenomena  of  nature  are  pro- 
duced by  electric-magnetic  energy. 

Franklin  and  Faraday,  Harvey,  Morse  and  Edison, 
by  their  discoveries  have  taught  us  that  as  the 
potter  and  the  clay  must  come  together  to  form 
the  rudest  vessels,  so  creative  electric  force  must 
touch  every  sensitive  atom  in  organic  being;  and 
keep  the  wellsprings  of  life  constantly  flowing 
through  all  life  forms.  There  is  no  unfolding  of 
bud  and  blossom,  tree  and  shrub,  without  the  com- 
ing and  going  of  electric  life-giving  sunlight  and 
earth  light.  They  pervade  all  bodies  of  matter, 
whether  world  spheres  or  seed  germs,  and  hold 
communion  with  all  atomic  centers  of  sensation  in 
all  living  organisms.  Atoms  seek  their  electric  affin- 
ities, life-forces  and  life-forms  touch  each  other  by 
the  grasp  of  magnetic  attraction  and  repulsion, 
and  these  give  personal  sensations  and  vital  forms 
of  being. 

Through  the  medium  of  electricity,  material  and 
mental  forces  meet  together  upon  the  plane  of 
human  consciousness.  This  is  nature's  method  of 
communication  between  the  material  and  mental 
within  the  human  brain,  which  has  been  a  puzzling 
and  difficult  problem  of  physical  science.  The  Ian- 


32  THE  UNIVERSE 

guage  of  the  senses  is  a  universal  language  that 
has  its  foundation  in  invisible  forces. 

There  is  a  unity  between  the  light  and  the  eye 
that  indicates  their  origin  in  the  same  lines  of  force 
that  now  give  sight  to  the  brain  life.  In  the  ear, 
there  is  evidence  that  the  electric  vibratory  cur- 
rents of  force  producing  sound  had  a  companion- 
ship with  the  electric  life-germ  in  which  the  ear  had 
its  beginning.  So  all  organs  of  sense  possess  un- 
mistakable evidence  of  having  proceeded  out  of 
those  electric  forces  that  are  unseen  and  imponder- 
able. The  knowledge  of  these  is  the  story  of  the 
Garden  of  Eden,  incorporated  into  the  life  of  every 
intellectual  being.  All  the  evidence  of  the  senses 
conies  from  electric  telegrams  from  without  or  within 
man's  physical  organism.  Seeing  and  hearing  are 
wireless  telegrams  from  the  ether  without,  and  feel- 
ing, smelling,  tasting,  are  wired  telegrams  running 
along  the  nerves  of  man's  body  and  communicat- 
ing with  the  brain — the  seat  of  intelligence — and  the 
reasoning  soul. 

Man  must  have  a  connecting  link  between  his 
mind  and  body  and  the  things  about  him;  and,  as 
that  connecting  link  and  medium  in  man  is  elec- 
tricity, so  plain  and  simple  are  the  laws  of  nature 
that  God  has  no  other  medium  between  him  and 
all  material  creations.  Electricity  therefore  is  both 
the  creative  governing  energy  of  Deity  over  the  uni- 
verse, and  the  governing  energy  of  man  over  all 
material  things.  God  controls  the  universe  as  man 
controls  his  body— by  electricity. 

Man  has  five  senses  :  seeing,  hearing,  feeling,  tast- 
ing, smelling.  These  are  all  communicated  to  the 
soul  or  spiritual  body  by  electricity.  Man  feels  by 


PRODUCES  PHENOMENA  OF  NATURE  33 

the  electric  flashes  that  come  from  every  part  of 
his  body,  that  tingle  on  his  nerves,  and  beat  upon 
the  brain,  and  touch  the  garments  of  the  living  soul. 
He  sees  through  the  medium  of  the  electric  etheric 
waves  of  light  that  come  from  the  vibrations  of  the 
air  around  him.  By  these  swift  electric  flashes  the 
infinitesimal  rays  of  electric  light  enter  the  retina 
of  the  eye  and  touch  the  quick  vision  of  the  soul. 
He  hears  by  the  atmospheric  waves  of  electricity 
that  beat  upon  his  ear  drums.  He  tastes  and  smells 
by  the  same  electric  process ;  and  his  five  senses  are 
but  the  inward  communication  of  outer  surround- 
ing conditions  and  substances  to  his  spiritual  per- 
ception by  means  of  electricity.  Thus  the  Creative 
Deity  hears  and  knows,  and  by  the  same  forces 
directs  and  sustains  all  things. 

Man  as  an  electric  engine  is  far  more  efficient  than 
any  known  engine  in  which  there  is  a  consumption 
of  fuel.  In  general  the  amount  of  work  a  man 
does  bears  a  certain  proportion  to  the  fuel  he  puts 
into  his  boiler.  Plants  also  constitute  forms  of 
electric  engines  to  embalm  the  suns  rays  and  use 
the  products  rejected  by  men  and  animals. 

By  the  radiant  energy  of  the  sun,  plants  are  able 
to  decompose  carbonic  acid.  They  form  storage 
cells  in  which  a  current  of  electricity  decomposes  the 
liquid  into  oxygen  and  hydrogen  and  form  materi- 
als which  again  give  electricity,  motion  and  heat. 
The  sun  enables  the  plant  engine  to  work.  It  also 
enables  the  man  engine  and  animal  engine,  and 
world  engine  to  work  by  furnishing  them  all  with 
the  electric  energy  and  working  power  of  the  uni- 
verse, that  they  may  do  their  part  in  the  ever  living 
forces  of  cosmic  life.  The  cells  of  protoplasm  are 
3 


34  THE  UNIVERSE 

infinitesimal  magnets  or  electrical  machines,  all  veg- 
etables are  but  larger  ^magnets,  all  animals  still 
larger,  till  we  get  to  worlds  and  suns,  the  greatest 
of  them  all. 

All  the  radiant  garments  of  creation  in  their 
varied  colors  of  light  and  beauty  that  now  appear 
to  human  vision  are  woven  from  the  same  gar- 
ments of  immortality  that  wrap  themselves  around 
the  initial  centres  of  magnetic  attraction. 

As  the  worlds  were  created  by  invisible  electric 
forces  under  the  guidance  of  the  Omnipotent  cre- 
ative spirit,  so  the  same  electric  forces  are  still  carry- 
ing forward  the  work  of  their  unfinished  structures, 
and  perfecting  the  unity  and  completing  the  har- 
mony of  creation.  What  we  now  call  gravity  is 
electric  attraction  and  accretion  that  was  com- 
menced at  the  beginning  of  nature's  work  of  crea- 
tion, and  which  continues  to  be  the  occult  force 
that  secures  the  growth  of  a  blade  of  grass,  the  un- 
folding of  the  tiniest  seed  with  its  inwrapt  life- 
germ  and  the  development  of  a  world,  and  which 
brings  us  face  to  face  with  the  creative  force  that 
was  the  starting  point  of  "the  beginning"  and  will 
be  the  culminating  center  of  all  ultimate  perfected 
creation.  This  electric  life  energy  touches  each 
growing  seed  center  as  at  the  beginning  it  touched 
each  growing  world  center  and  reveals  the  power 
and  wisdom  of  creation  in  every  evolving  form  of 
life. 

The  same  electric  radiate  lines  that  give  the  pa- 
rental image  in  the  mirror  by  an  instantaneous  flash 
of  light,  give  also  the  parental  image  in  the  germ- 
life  that  evolves  a  new  paternity.  While  we  cannot 
trace  the  lines  of  electrical  union  that  are  mingled 


PRODUCES  PHENOMENA  OF  NATURE  35 

in  this  new  life,  we  are  justified  in  affirming  that 
electric  and  radiant  matter  must  have  bridged  the 
chasm  between  the  old  lives  and  the  new,  between 
parental  duality  and  the  dual  forces  of  electricity 
that  produced  a  new  germinal  individuality.  And 
the  new  life  cannot  be  possible  without  the  separate 
unfolding  of  two  distinct  organisms  meeting  in  gen- 
erative embrace,  imparting  a  new  seed-life.  All  germ 
life  has  its  beginning  where  positive  and  negative 
magnetic  currents  blend  into  unity. 

The  germinal  life  and  the  food  supply  of  plant 
and  animal  fix  the  boundaries  of  its  being.  There 
can  be  no  evolution  of  plant  life  into  animal  life. 
It  is  not  scientific  or  rational;  vegetable,  plant 
and  tree  have  no  independent  existence  separate 
from  the  soil  of  the  earth  except  as  latent  in  seed 
form. 

As  all  material  organisms  take  on  their  organic 
form  around  electric  or  magnetic  centers  drawing 
their  atoms  from  electrical  currents,  so  all  life-germs 
take  their  growth  from  the  magnetic  centers  of 
their  growing  forms.  Here  in  the  field  of  electric 
forces  is  to  be  found  the  generative  forces  of  organic 
matter — the  mysterious  births  from  all  parental 
life.  And  the  constantly  revolving  circle  of  periodic 
changes  of  growth  and  decay,  of  life  and  death,  of 
seed  beginning  and  seed  producing — like  sunshine 
and  shadow,  light  and  darkness — are  opposite  points 
in  the  circle  of  electric  force  and  physical  life.  The 
growing  and  dying  life-forms  intervene  between  these 
two  points  of  rest  and  renewal,  of  attraction  and 
repulsion,  of  positive  organism  and  negative  diffu- 
sion of  matter. 

They  are  the  results  of  the  great  electric  system 


36  THE  UNIVERSE 

of  attracting  and  repelling  currents  of  magnetism 
that  are  as  fixed  in  their  lines  of  force  and  order  of 
work  as  the  rocks  at  the  foundations  of  the  moun- 
tains. In  fact,  all  that  is  strong  and  abiding  in 
matter  rests  upon  these  currents  of  energy,  and  all 
of  life  is  dependent  upon  the  constancy  and  per- 
petually pulsating  flow  of  the  unseen  electrical  poten- 
cies of  creation.  Life  is  a  universal  unity,  as  light, 
heat,  electricity  and  polarization,  which  evolve  it, 
are  unities.  The  order  of  ascending  life  organism 
is  from  the  simple  to  the  complex ;  from  the  lowest 
plane  of  rock  formation  the  series  is  upward;  from 
the  lowest  form  of  vegetable  life  it  is  up  to  the  high- 
est, and  in  the  animal  life  upward  till  the  crowning 
work  is  reached  in  the  thinking  animal  we  call  man, 
who  is  more  than  a  thinking  animal. 

To  each  ascending  form  there  is  an  endowment 
of  self-perpetuation  by  parentage  and  seed  fruitage, 
which  involve  the  electro-magnetic  condition  of  germ 
life.  Thus  by  electrical  forces  plants  build  within 
each  other  and  form  others  by  elementary  atoms, 
with  power  of  self-propagation,  bridging  the  life- 
gulf  between  silent  atom  and  living  organism  as  if 
they  were  the  material  work  of  some  spiritual  builder. 

Thus  by  electrical  forces  nature  builds  all  human 
and  animal  life-forms  and  organisms.  The  primary 
atoms  of  matter  have  their  home  in  the  electro- 
magnetic forces  and  are  evolved  from  them  into 
the  material  organisms  of  creation.  When  the  elec- 
tro-magnetic origin  of  light,  heat,  physical  life  and 
so-called  gravitation  is  fully  accepted  and  their 
dynamic  energy  traced  to  its  potential  body,  we 
have  reached  the  strength  of  primary  forces  and 
the  unending  circle  of  electrical  potencies. 


PRODUCES  PHENOMENA  OF  NATURE  37 

This  brings  us  to  the  border  land  of  creative  work, 
to  the  mysterious  sea  of  all  life-giving  forces,  and  the 
universal  basis  of  all  existing  creations. 

Here  spirit,  matter,  and  electricity — the  three 
great  basic  entities  of  creation — work  together  in 
full  accord  in  evolving  and  fashioning  all  material 
growth  and  material  structures.  In  natural  growth 
protoplasm  gives  the  material  conditions  of  life 
without  which  there  could  be  no  food  supplies. 

They  contain  grouped  elements  of  oxygen,  nitro- 
gen, h}'drogen  and  carbon  out  of  which  living  struc- 
tures are  reared.  Life  is  dependent  upon  food  sup- 
plies of  matter,  which  supplies  must  be  raised  to 
radiant  conditions  by  electric  forces  to  secure  its 
assimilation  into  living  organic  forms.  Life,  there- 
fore, like  light,  seeks  through  magnetic  action  a 
radiant  plane  of  matter  where  it  can  reveal  its 
working  presence.  Upon  such  a  plane  all  forms 
of  life  come  to  birth  from  a  common  parentage — 
from  electric  force  and  radiant  matter,  each  form  en- 
dowed with  personality,  and  powers  of  reproduction 
that  make  them  factors  of  life  and  growth  upon 
the  radiant  plane  of  creative  potencies. 

Prof.  G.  F.  Wright  of  Oberlin  says  in  a  recent 
article  :  "Evolution  does  not  solve  the  mysteries  of 
the  universe.  It  simply  pushes  them  one  step  fur- 
ther back.  The  mystery  of  the  acorn  is  greater 
than  the  mystery  of  the  oak,  for  it  has  compressed 
in  it  all  the  'power  and  potency'  of  the  oak.  It  is 
no  explanation  of  a  chick  to  say  it  is  hatched  from 
an  egg.  The  wonder  and  the  mystery  is  simply 
carried  back  to  that  infinitesimal  point  in  the  egg 
which  conceals  within  itself  the  power  of  producing 
the  feathered  biped  with  all  its  marvelous  instincts 


38  THE  UNIVERSE 

and  adapted  organism."  I  hold  that  the  infinitesi- 
mal point  in  the  egg  and  the  acorn  is  its  electric 
center  of  life-force,  or  magnetic  core,  which,  under 
the  law  of  organic  affinity,  develops  by  nutrition 
and  respiration,  which  are  electric  processess,  into 
the  chick  and  the  oak.  He  says:  "So,  of  all  the 
processes  of  nature,  man's  vision  sees  only  the  sur- 
face. We  do  not  see  causes  but  only  effects.  We 
plant  a  seed,  and  all  that  we  see  is  that  under 
certain  conditions  it  springs  up  and  produces  the 
blade,  then  the  ear,  and  last  the  full  corn  in  the 
ear.  No  one  knows  how  it  conies  about  that  two 
seeds  which  look  alike  under  the  same  conditions 
produce  different  colored  flowers  and  different  quali- 
ties of  fruit.  The  beginning  of  everything  is  a  mys- 
tery. If  one  affirms  that  things  have  no  beginning 
he  but  increases  the  mystery.  The  difficulty  with 
all  theories  of  evolution  is  to  get  a  starting  point. 
"The  time  was  when  philosophers  could  speak  of  the 
universe  as  eternal.  The  geologists  fifty  years  ago 
could  do  so,  but  the  demonstration  of  the  conser- 
vation of  energy  has  put  an  end  to  any  such  easy- 
going speculation." 

All  this  is  well  stated  and  very  true,  except  that 
by  treating  all  things  as  electro-magnets,  drawing 
positive  and  negative  atoms  or  ions  from  air,  food 
and  water,  we  see  how  by  nutrition  and  accretion 
animal  and  vegetable  organism  may  be  evolved 
by  the  law  of  magnetic  attraction  and  organic 
affinity.  This  is  the  only  rational  solution  and  is 
in  accord  with  all  the  processes  of  nature  and  with 
the  conservation  of  energy.  Elsewhere  I  have  en- 
deavored to  explain  how,  by  the  constant  renewal 
of  matter  and  electric  energy  in  the  sun  and  in 


PRODUCES  PHENOMENA  OF  NATURE  39 

space,  the  universe  may  be  eternal  and  no  waste 
or  deterioration  occur  and,  while  always  changing, 
is  virtually  changeless. 

Newton  in  his  theory  of  gravitation  discovered 
one  phase  of  electric  energy,  and  his  law  of  gravi- 
tation is  in  reality  simply  the  law  of  electrical  at- 
traction. But  he  never  knew  the  cause  of  it  and 
never  discovered  the  other  and  dual  phase  of  electric 
energy — the  law  of  electrical  repulsion,  he  never  even 
suspected  it.  For  he  held  that  the  balancing  force 
of  gravitation  of  the  other  planets  kept  each  planet 
from  falling  into  the  sun,  which  it  otherwise  would 
have  done  under  the  law  of  gravitation,  which  says 
large  bodies  attract  smaller  ones.  This  position  was 
untenable,  as  I  have  shown  in  ' l  The  Cities  of  the  Sun. ' ' 

Newton  thought  that  an  apple  was  attracted  to 
the  earth  because  the  earth  was  larger,  and  that 
any  larger  body  would  attract  a  smaller  one.  But 
I  hold  that  size  is  not  what  controls  attraction;  it 
is  electrical  conditions.  An  amount  of  substance 
from  the  sun  would  have  more  attracting  power 
than  the  same  amount  from  the  earth,  because  the 
sun  has  more  electrical  power.  A  lodestone  has 
more  attracting  power  than  the  same  amount  of 
ordinary  substance.  A  pound  of  iron  has  no  at- 
tracting force  untill  it  is  magnetized;  then  it  will 
lift  many  times  its  weight.  So  size,  weight,  or  grav- 
ity is  no  test  of  attracting  power. 

I  therefore  repudiate  the  law  of  gravity  and  adopt 
electricity,  with  its  dual  force  of  action  and  reaction, 
attraction  and  repulsion,  as  the  supreme  cosmic 
evolving  force  of  the  universe,  creating  all  light, 
heat  and  life  and  producing  all  the  varied  and 
wonderful  phenomena  of  nature. 


40  THE  UNIVERSE 

I  hold  that  by  the  law  of  electric  energy  the  sun 
is  not  a  thermal  or  heating  engine  as  the  astrono- 
mers proclaim,  but  is  an  electric  generator  and  is 
not  hot,  and  that  the  sun's  rays,  neither  where  they 
originate  or  where  they  act  are  hot,  but  they  come 
to  the  earth  as  cool  currents  of  electricity,  which 
generate  heat  near  the  earth's  surface  by  coming 
in  contact  with  an  opposite  electricity  and  the  re- 
sistance and  friction  of  its  atmosphere.  Proof  of 
this  is  found  in  the  snow-covered  peaks  of  the  tropics 
and  the  glaciers  of  the  torrid  zone. 

I  have  waited  six  years  for  objections  to  the  elec- 
tric theory  of  creation  and  have  found  only  one 
recently  stated.  This  first  and  only  objection  is  that 
electricity  is  a  derivative  force. 

Prof.  G.  F.  Wright,  of  Oberlin,  in  an  article  in  the 
Chicago  Record,  Dec.,  1902,  says  :  "Many  of  the 
speculations  concerning  the  unlimited  use  of  elec- 
tricity overlook  the  fact  of  its  derivative  origin. 
Electricity  is  but  transformed  force.  It  is  not  a  pro- 
ducer of  force  but  a  consumer  of  force.  It  merely 
directs  the  force  to  its  specific  end.  The  electricity 
which  propels  and  warms  the  street  cars  of  Buffalo, 
and  furnishes  power  to  its  small  factories  and  illumi- 
nates its  streets  is  merely  force  diverted  from  the 
Falls  of  Niagara;  in  other  words,  it  is  transformed 
gravitation." 

True,  but  gravitation  is  simply  electric  attrac- 
tion, and  the  electricity  that  propels,  lights  and 
warms  the  cars  is  electric  attraction  diverted  from 
the  Falls  and  used  on  the  cars.  It  is  not  derivative 
force,  but  the  original  and  only  force — electric  force 
transferred  from  the  Falls  to  the  cars. 

But  Prof.  Wright  himself  destroys  his  own  argu- 


PRODUCES  PHENOMENA  OP  NATURE  41 

ment  when  he  says  :  "In  other  cases  the  electricity  is 
derived  from  the  heat  of  consuming  coal,  while  the 
coal  is  the  product  of  the  sun's  rays,  chemically 
sealed  up  in  the  coal  deposits  of  the  early  geological 
ages.  Indeed  it  is  easy  to  see  that  all  the  available 
force  in  the  world  is  the  product  of  the  sun's  rays." 
In  this  we  fully  agree,  for  I  say  the  heat  of  the 
coal  and  the  heat  of  the  sun  is  electricity.  The 
sun's  rays,  which  he  says  "is  all  the  available  force 
in  the  world,"  is  electricity,  and  the  sun  is  the  great 
electric  heart  of  the  solar  system.  Thus  we  differ 
only  in  terms.  While  he  whips  electricity  around  the 
stump,  and  say£  it  is  a  new  thing  every  time  he 
turns  a  corner,  I  say  it  is  the  same  electricity,  with- 
out any  change,  and.  proves  the  oneness  of  the  uni- 
verse as  a  vast  electric  organism. 

Thus  our  great  scientists  befog  themselves.  Now 
that  Langley  says  there  is  only  one  radiant  matter, 
and  light,  heat  and  chemical  changes  are  all  one 
entity,  perhaps  he  may  change  his  view.  I  have 
tried  to  convince  these  crosseyed  reasoners  that  all 
force  is  one  force  and  all  matter  is  one  matter,  and 
the  scientists  are  now  coming  to  that  conclusion 
steadily. 

Prof.  Wright  says  again :  "The  strength  and 
warmth  of  all  animal  bodies  is  traceable  to  carbon, 
and  whenever  we  move  a  limb  or  walk,  the  power  to 
doit  is  obtained  by  the  consumption  of  carbon."  Well, 
I  say  carbon  is  one  form  of  stored  electricity.  He 
says:  "The  ox  feeds  upon  the  grass  which  is  col- 
lected or  grows  through  the  influence  of  sunlight," 
and  I  say  sunlight  is  electric  currents  from  the 
great  electric  dynamo,  the  sun. 

He  says :   "The  nebular  theory  is  faulty,"  and  J 


42  ,  THE  UNIVERSE 

agree  with  him.  He  says  :  ' 'Gravitation  is  an  utter 
mystery  that  has  baffled  all  scientific  explanation," 
and  I  agree  with  him,  and  go  a  step  further  and 
affirm  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  gravitation  and 
never  was.  Newton  discovered  one  of  the  dual 
forces  of  electricity,  which  I  call  universal  electric 
attraction,  and  called  it  gravitation. 

He  says  :  "So  far  as  we  can  see,  gravitation  acts 
instantaneously,  and  Newton  gave  up  the  problem  of 
defining  it,  and  said  he  had  no  explanation  except 
to  say  God  so  made  it."  This  is  true,  but  Newton 
knew  nothing  of  electricity  or  his  great  intellect 
would  likely  have  discovered  the  truth  and  named 
and  explained  it  as  electric  attraction. 

Newton  discovered  an  imaginary  force,  an  idea, 
a  dream,  "an  occult  force,"  as  Leibnitz  called  it. 
Newton  had  an  imagination  which  the  scientific 
plodders  who  have  come  after  him  lacked.  They 
have  dug  in  the  dirt,  while  he  sailed  through  azure 
seas,  and  linked  suns  and  worlds  together  by  a 
mere  sweep  of  the  imagination,  without  any  ex- 
planation or  conceivable  cause,  and  called  it  gravity. 
He  might  just  as  well  have  called  it  ponderosity. 

Phillip  Akinson,  in  his  work  on  electricity,  1902, 
asserts  that  "energy  manifests  itself  either  in  masses 
of  matter  or  in  small  particles,  called  molecules,  and 
thus  we  have  two  kinds — mass  energy  and  molecular 
energy."  But  have  we  two  kinds  of  energy?  Mass 
energy  and  molecular  energy  is  the  same. 

Mass  energy  is  but  the  aggregation  of  molecular 
energy. 

Large  bodies  attract  small  ones  because  they  pos- 
sess more  electric  energy.  Gravity  or  weight  is  but 
another  name  for  aggregate  molecular  electric  attrac- 


PRODUCES  PHENOMENA  OF  NATURE  43 

tion  of  the  earth  for  everything  upon  its  surface. 
The  gravity  or  weight  of  a  man  is  the  pull  or  force 
with  which  the  electric  attraction  of  the  earth  holds 
him  to  its  surface.  In  other  words,  the  earth  is  a 
vast  magnet,  and  man's  body  is  a  smaller  magnet, 
and  as  the  magnetic  core  of  a  steel  magnet  draws 
all  metals  towards  its  magnetic  center,  so  does 
the  earth  magnet  draw  all  things  toward  its  center. 

The  same  author  states  that,  "the  earth  is  a 
great  thermopile  generating  electric  currents  by  the 
difference  of  potential  between  its  heated  and  cooled 
parts."  In  this  I  agree  with  him,  but  he  only  states 
one  of  a  thousand  ways  to  generate  electric  currents. 

He  says  further :  "Heat  is  believed  to  be  a  cer- 
tain mode  of  molecular  motion,  and  electricity  to  be 
another  mode;  but  the  nature  of  the  motion  of 
each  has  never  been  discovered."  And  I  think 
never  will,  as  long  as  the  false  notion  prevails  that 
heat  and  electricity  are  modes  of  motion.  A  mode 
of  motion  is  nonsense,  for  motion  is  an  effect  pro- 
duced by  a  cause — it  is  not  a  cause.  And  all  cause 
of  motion  is  electricity,  and  the  mode  of  operation 
is  the  law  of  electro-magnetism. 

There  is  no  difference  in  the  law  or  the  mode  of 
operation  of  electric  currents  in  a  volcano,  in  a 
cloud,  in  the  earth,  in  the  sun  or  planets,  in  an 
electric  light,  or  in  a  man's  body.  The  same  law 
exists  and  the  same  natural  results  follow  when  one 
lights  the  gas  with  a  flash  of  electricity  from  his 
finger,  as  when  a  meteor  blazes,  a  comet  flares  out 
in  space,  or  a  sun  becomes  luminous.  The  same 
force  that  man  causes  to  run  along  a  telegraph 
wire,  or  through  a  telephone  circuit,  or  which  runs  a 
street  car  line,  or  is  taken  by  the  brushes  from  a 


44  THE  UNIVERSE 

revolving  dynamo,  is  the  same  force  and  operated 
tinder  the  same  law  or  mode  of  force  as  the  electric 
life-giving  currents  that  come  from  the  sun  con- 
stantly in  an  omnipotent  tide  of  power. 

Prof.  Thomson  says  :  "The  earth  is  generally  found 
to  be  negatively  electrified,  and  is  insulated  in  its 
atmosphere,  being  in  fact  a  conductor  touched  only 
by  air — a  strong  insulator." 

He  says  further  :  "The  quality  of  non-resistance  to 
electric  force  of  the  interplanetary  ether  being  con- 
sidered, the  earth,  the  atmosphere  and  the  surround- 
ing medium  may  be  regarded  as  constituting  re- 
spectively, the  inner  coating,  the  dielectric  and  the 
outer  coating  of  a  large  Lay  den  jar  charged  nega- 
tively." 

Prof.  S.  P.  Thomson  in  "Electricity  and  Mag- 
netism," says  :  "Gilbert  made  the  discovery  that  the 
compass  points  north  and  south  because  the  earth 
is  also  a  great  magnet.  Faraday  said  :  'All  matter 
is  in  a  magnetic  condition.'  Sir  Oliver  Lodge  says  : 
1  The  idea  that  magnetism  is  a  whirl  of  electricity  is 
as  old  as  Ampere.  Perceiving  that  a  magnet 
could  be  initiated  by  an  electric  whirl,  he  made  the 
hypothesis  that  an  electric  whirl  existed  in  every 
magnet.' " 

Maxwell  announced  the  proposition  that  electro- 
magnetic phenomena  and  light  phenomena  have 
their  origin  in  the  same  medium  and  are  identical 
in  nature.  Hertz,  by  actually  producing,  detecting 
and  controlling  electric  waves,  caused  the  discovery 
of  wireless  electricity.  And  it  is  by  the  wonderful 
wireless  telegraphy  of  light  that  man  is  put  in  com- 
munication with  every  considerable  body  in  the 
universe,  including  even  the  invisible.  By  it  the 


PRODUCES  PHENOMENA  OF  NATURE  45 

goings  on  in  Sirius  and  Algol,  Orion  and  the 
Pleiades  are  reported  across  enormous  stretches  of 
millions  of  millions  of  miles  of  space.  And  by  the 
vibratory  motion  of  the  invisibly  small,  all  things 
are  revealed;  the  infinitely  little  has  enabled  us  to 
conquer  the  inconceivably  big.  I  hold  seeing  and 
hearing  are  the  simplest  examples  of  wireless  teleg- 
raphy. 

Elihu  Thomson,  the  great  electrician,  says  :  ' 'Hertz 
proved  that  all  luminous  phenomena  are  in  es- 
sence electrical.  Wireless  electricity  is  the  outcome 
of  Hertz's  experiments  on  electric  waves,  and  elec- 
trical conditions  and  actions  are  more  fundamental 
than  hitherto  regarded." 

.  William  Ramsey,  the  distinguished  chemist,  says  : 
"It  is  a  primary  assumption  that  atoms  of  elements 
or  in  certain  cases  groups  of  atoms  are  themselves 
electrified,  and  atoms  possess  positive  and  negative 
poles,  and  combinations  ensue  between  such  op- 
positely electrified  bodies." 

Mr.  Francis  Grierson,  a  prominent  scientist  of 
London,  in  a  recent  London  periodical,  says  :  "So 
far  as  we  know  electricity  is  the  soul  of  visible  form. 
What  we  call  brain  waves  have  an  analogy  to  elec- 
tric waves.  The  discoveries  and  inventions  of  the 
last  ten  years  have  made  child's  play  of  every  pre- 
viously known  system  of  philosophy.  The  simple 
but  amazing  facts  disclosed  during  the  past  five 
years,  render  the  dreams,  speculations  and  guess- 
work of  the  past  absurd.  The  little  we  know  in  a 
practical  way  is  more  than  all  the  philosphers  of 
the  past  knew  from  Aristotle  to  Leibnitz." 

Prof.  Langley,  in  his  address  at  the  1902  session 
of  the  American  Association  of  Science,  stated  that, 


46  THE  UNIVERSE 

"up  to  1872  it  was  almost  universally  believed 
that  there  were  three  different  kinds  of  energy — ac- 
tinic, luminous  and  thermal — represented  in  the  spec- 
trum;" but  he  affirmed  :  "  There  is  only  one  radiant 
energy  which  appears  to  us  as  actinic,  luminous  or 
thermal,  according  to  the  way  we  observe  it. 

"Heat  and  light  are  not  things  in  themselves, 
but  different  sensations  in  our  bodies,  or  different 
effects  in  other  bodies.  They  are  merely  effects  of 
this  mysterious  thing  we  call  radiant  energy."  He 
thus  sustains  my  position  and  the  electric  theory 
of  creation,  which  is,  that  there  is  but  one  univer- 
sal and  ultimate  energy  which  he  calls  radiant  and 
I  call  electric  energy,  and  which  are  the  same  thing. 

It  is  said  that  an  Italian  physicist  wrote  in  1843  : 
"Light  is  merely  a  series  of  colorific  indications, 
sensible  ,to  the  organs  of  light,  or  vice  versa;  the 
radiations  of  obscure  heat  are  veritable  invisible 
radiations  of  light."  This  Langley,  by  his  elaborate 
researches,  more  refined  and  complex  than  all  pre- 
ceeding  ones,  proved  to  be  true.  Since  so  orthodox 
a  scientist  as  Langley  has  proven  there  is  but  one 
energy,  the  other  scientists  may  stumble  over  it 
awhile  and  then  accept  it,  because  he  is  high  au- 
thority. 

Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  in  the  "Electrical  World,"  of 
February  21st,  1903,  sustains  the  electrical  theory 
strongly.  He  says  :  "All  matter  is  electrical  in  its 
nature.  The  difference  between  one  kind  of  matter 
and  another  lies  in  the  physical  and  chemical  prop- 
erties of  the  atoms;  but  the  difference  between  the 
atoms  is  merely  due  to  the  difference  of  the  electric 
grouping  of  the  atoms." 

He  holds  that  the  Thompson  corpuscles  are  all  elec- 


PRODUCES  PHENOMENA  OF  NATURE  47 

trie.  Thomson's  theory  is  that  negative  electricity 
is  matter.  Lodge  holds  that  all  matter  down  to 
the  ultimate  corpuscle  is  electricity  or  electrical 
substance.  Thus  I  am  sustained  by  the  highest 
most  recent  authority. 

Prof.  E.  L.  Larkin,  of  the  California  University, 
said  recently  :  "The  earth  has  a  permanent  charge 
of  negative  electricity,  and  the  atmosphere  is  pos- 
itive. The  surface  potential  is  therefore  very  near 
zero.  This  permits  electro-magnetic  waves  from  the 
sun  to  act  with  unabated  energy."  Prof.  Lucien  I. 
Blake  of  the  Kansas  University  said  in  a  recent 
lecture :  "All  atoms  of  matter  are  charged  with 
electricity.  All  vital  actions  are  always  connected 
with  electricity." 

I  could  fill  a  volume  with  recent  statements  of 
scientists  showing  that  electricity  produces  all  the 
phenomena  of  nature,  all  of  which  they  have  learned 
in  the  last  few  years,  while  as  a  pioneer  in  this 
field  of  thought  I  have  been  trying  to  propagate 
these  electrical  theories  for  many  years. 

Every  year  new  facts  are  discovered  showing  that 
electricity  is  the  cosmic,  evolving,  ultimate  and  only 
force  in  nature  and  the  universe  is  a  vast  electric 
machine  or  organism  moved  by  electric  currents 
of  measureless  force  and  power.  The  earth  revolves 
around  the  sun,  the  sun  gravitates  around  some 
siderial  center  in  motion  like  itself,  and  myriads  of 
suns  and  planets  with  their  countless  population 
move  with  many  times  the  velocity  of  a  cannon 
ball.  Stars  that  seem  tranquil  and  motionless  in 
the  heavens  are  projected  through  space  with  a 
velocity  of  one  hundred  to  two  hundred  miles  per 
second.  The  constituent  atoms  of  our  bodies  move 


48  THE  UNIVERSE 

relatively  with  as  much  velocity  as  the  stars  in 
heaven.  Motion — electric  energy — reigns  everywhere, 
forms  everything,  controls,  handles  and  evolves  all 
suns  and  planets,  all  physical  life,  substance  and 
organisms  in  human  experience  and  universal  nature. 

The  electric  rays  of  light  from  suns  and  stars  of 
the  most  distant  constellations  dart  their  beams 
across  the  universe,  and  centuries  after,  the  impulse 
of  electric  energy  enters  the  human  eye,  and  gives 
sense  and  vision  to  the  soul.  Thus  the  dynamic 
chains  of  electric  light  binds  into  living  unity  the 
realms  of  matter  and  mind,  '  'through  measureless 
amplitudes  of  space  and  time." 

These  electric  currents  are  not  only  the  source  of 
all  natural  phenomena,  but  the  sea  of  electro-mag- 
netism from  which  they  come  is  the  reservoir  of 
life,  which  stands  back  of  all  the  myriad  manifesta- 
tions of  physical  existence,  and  is  the  great  fountain 
of  vitality  from  which  all  life  must  come. 

What  is  electricity?  Tesla  says  it  is  " invisible 
light,"  Atkins  says  it  is  "  molecular  motion,"  Flem- 
ing says  it  is  "  a  spiral  twist  of  the  ether,"  but  the 
best  definition  is  given  in  the  Scriptures  where  it 
says  all  things  were  made  by  the  "word  of  His 
power."  It  is  the  word  of  creative  power. 


CHAPTER  III 

ELECTRICAL  CREATION,   BRIEFLY   vSTATED.     IT   SEEMS 
TO  SOLVE  THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

As  the  nebular  hypothesis  and  gravitation  ex- 
plain nothing  and  show  neither  the  primary  elements 
nor  the  primary  energy  of  the  universe,  we  should 
go  to  the  dual  forces  of  electricity  which  do.  As 
we  have  learned  little  more  than  a  name  from  either, 
I  think  it  is  time  to  try  another  hypothesis.  Walk- 
ing single  file  in  dead  men's  shoes  for  two  hun- 
dred years  is  quite  long  enough. 

I  am  willing  to  submit  the  following  hypothesis 
as  my  conception  of  electrical  creation  and  the  true 
theory  of  the  universe. 

First — Creation  was  wrought  out  by  the  agency  of 
electrical  forces,  operating  on  invisible  elementary 
matter,  controlled  by  the  intellectual  impulse  of  an 
infinite  power. 

Second — These  creative  cosmic  forces,  by  condensing 
the  suns  and  planets  into  vast  magnets  revolving 
in  a  sea  of  electro-magnetic  forces,  evolved  the  mar- 
velous machinery  of  the  universe. 

Third — This  machinery  of  the  universe  became 
self-propelling  and  self-sustaining  by  reason  of  the 
laws  of  motion,  growth  and  evolution  impressed 
upon  it,  or  by  the  joint  sovereignty  of  two  equal, 
correlative  forces  :  magnetism,  a  form  of  electricity 
4 


50  THE  UNIVERSE 

maintains  the  sovereignty  of  attraction  over  matter 
in  body,  while  electricity,  another  phase  of  the  same 
force,  maintains  the  sovereignty  of  repulsion  over 
matter  in  space. 

Fourth — For  these  reasons  electricity  is  a  universal 
power  joining  together  the  two  kingdoms  of  the 
heavens  and  the  earth — of  matter  in  body  and  mat- 
ter in  space.  And  these  forces  in  their  unity  of 
harmonious  work  can  suffer  no  disturbance  equal 
"to  the  dust  in  the  balance." 

Fifth — These  floods  of  electricity  and  magnetism 
affect  the  least  and  the  greatest,  "directly  as  to 
mass,  and  inversely  to  the  square  of  the  distance." 

Sixth — The  sun  and  planets  are  vast  magnets  be- 
cause they  are  held  in  charge  of  electro-magnetic 
forces  in  an  immense  magnetic  field.  These  forces 
are  not  from  these  bodies  originally,  but  these 
bodies  are  from  these  forces;  and  these  forces 
antedate  all  forms  of  visible  matter. 

Seventh — The  primary  state  of  matter  is  the  dif- 
fused etheric,  invisible  state,  and  the  building  of  mat- 
ter into  body  is  the  work  of  these  forces  when  in 
charge  of  matter  under  organic  affinities.  Magnetic 
lines  of  force  fix  centres  and  build  around  such  cen- 
tres by  drawing  elemental  matter  from  the  radiant 
sea  of  space  by  magnetic  energy,  into  globular 
forms  that  become  growing  worlds,  drawing  their 
power  and  increase  of  form  from  the  sea  of  invisible 
matter  in  which  they  are  fixed  by  their  axis  and 
orbit  lines  of  motion  and  force,  constituting  them 
working  electro-magnets. 

Eighth— These  electro-magnetic  forces  are  the  eter- 
nal cosmic  forces  of  perpetual  motion,  ever  work- 
ing by  the  law  of  action  and  reaction,  attraction 


ELECTRICAL  CREATION  BRIEFLY  STATED  51 

and  repulsion,  and  evolving  world  forms  and  ani- 
mal and  vegetable  forms. 

Ninth — The  sun  having  grown  from  the  sea  of  in- 
visible etheric  and  nebulous  matter  by  reason  of 
these  wonderful  electro-magnetic  forces  into  an  im- 
mense magnet,  larger  than  all  the  lesser  magnets 
or  planets  of  the  solar  system  combined,  holds 
them  in  the  magnetic  field  of  his  sovereign  power, 
and  is,  through  the  flowing  currents  of  electricity, 
the  creating,  governing  force  in  the  solar  system. 

Tenth — These  same  electric  forces  are  condensed 
into  smaller  magnets  and  electric  organisms  or 
machines,  which  form  electric  centres  and  build  up 
all  tangible  forms  of  matter — human,  animal  and 
vegetable.  And  all  visible  matter  is  but  the  outer 
shell  and  visible  garment  of  these  invisible  forces. 

Eleventh— Without  the  floods  of  electric  substance 
or  power  that  come  to  us  in  the  electric  currents  of 
the  sun  that  flow  in  currents  of  strength  through 
our  bodies  as  they  propel  the  inflowing  and  out- 
flowing floods  of  atomic  elements  of  matter,  that 
are  laden  with  incoming  supplies  of  daily  life  and 
outgoing  wastes,  by  attraction  and  repulsion,  as- 
similation of  food,  respiration  and  perspiration,  our 
bodily  forms  would  perish  or  be  wholly  unfit  for  the 
dwelling-place  of  our  spirits. 

Twelfth — Our  five  senses — seeing,  hearing,  tasting, 
smelling,  feeling — that  connect  us  with  the  world  of 
matter  are  entirely  dependent  on  electricity  and  the 
invisible  etheric  forms  of  matter  that  surround  us 
everywhere  and  constitute  the  connecting  ties,  the 
invisible  ligaments,  that  pervade  and  bind  all  forms 
of  life  in  nature's  wondrous  harmony. 

Thirteenth—The    boundless    fountain    of    infinite 


62  THE  UNIVERSE 

energy  in  atoms  in  body  and  atoms  through  meas- 
ureless space  are  superior  to  any  mere  sun  form  or 
world  form  of  visible  expression  of  such  energy.  The 
floods  of  radiant  electric  energy  that  enwrap  the 
sun  and  planets  in  orbital  lines  of  omnipotent 
strength  are  to  these  bodies  the  everlasting  foun- 
tains from  which  flow  their  upholding  and  evolving 
power  and  the  conservation  of  force  in  their  trans- 
forming energy. 

Fourteenth — As  all  visible  forms  of  matter  are  built 
from  invisible  elementary  atoms,  so  the  most  effi- 
cient display  of  electric  power  finds  its  expression 
and  source  in  the  same  elementary  atoms.  The 
electric  power  working  in  all  atoms  of  matter  gath- 
ered in  planetary  form,  saturates  such  planetary 
bodies  with  electric  energy,  as  the  steel  of  the  mag- 
net is  saturated  with  such  forces,  and  reveals  in  the 
sun  currents  the  source  of  all  terrestrial  power  and 
organic  life. 

Fifteenth — The  chemists  claim  to  have  discovered 
about  seventy  different  elemental  substances  in 
matter,  but  they  are  not  primary  elementary  sub- 
stances; they  are  secondary,  and  caused  by  the 
marvelous  electrical  combinations  of  the  two  pri- 
mary elements — atoms  and  electricity — and  are  what 
Herschel  said  they  looked  to  be,  " manufactured 
articles." 

Sixteenth— The  laws  of  magnetic  attraction  teach 
us  that  positive  and  negative  polar  forces,  flowing 
oppositely  between  sun  and  earth,  establish  the 
bond  of  union  between  them,  and  the  transmission 
of  electric  energy  must  be  equal  between  them,  and 
the  flow  through  space  at  the  low  level  of  latent 
energy. 


ELECTRICAL  CREATION  BRIEFLY  STATED  53 

These  two  oppositely  flowing  floods  of  electric 
energy,  under  the  great  law  of  electro-magnetic 
attraction,  pass  through  ninety-three  million  miles 
of  radiant  matter  in  eight  minutes  of  time  and 
enter  the  resisting  atmosphere  of  sun  and  earth, 
their  currents  thrilling  with  energy  at  the  high  ten- 
sion of  opposite  polarities  beneath  their  atmos- 
pheric envelope.  Thus  the  attraction  known  as 
gravitation,  but  which  is  electro-magnetism,  pours  a 
constant  flood  of  light  and  heat  upon  both  sun  and 
planets,  and  thus  the  electric  light  and  heat  of  the 
sun  and  planets  evolved  from  their  resisting  at- 
mosphere, and  the  contact  of  their  positive  and 
negative  electricity,  become  creative  potencies,  de- 
riving their  vast  power  from  each  other,  and  from 
their  environing  space  of  virgin,  imponderable 
matter,  and  thereby  give  life,  motion  and  utility  to 
all  visible  created  things. 

Thus  we  find  that  light,  heat  and  vital  force  is 
created  by  the  contact  of  the  positive  and  negative 
electricity  in  the  magnetic  atmosphere  of  suns  and 
worlds.  That  the  electric  affinities  in  matter  pro- 
claim an  electric  origin,  and  the  invisible  atom  as 
the  material  basis  of  all  material  life;  and  by  trac- 
ing their  source  to  electrical  and  magnetic  energy, 
we  have  reached  the  foundation  upon  which  is  built 
the  eternal  structures  of  the  universe,  and  the  bounds 
of  all  creation. 


CHAPTER  IV 

ELECTRICAL    CREATON    MORE    FULLY    STATED    CON- 
FIRMS  SCIENTIFIC   EVOLUTION 

I  CONTEND  that  electrical  creation  confirms  scientific 
evolution.  In  the  beginning  the  elements  assumed 
form  when  they  came  into  such  a  state  of  electrical 
balance  as  enabled  them  to  move  in  uniform  order. 
The  more  perfect  the  order  the  more  perfect  the 
form.  The  crystal  is  fine  proof  of  this,  for  when  the 
elements  composing  it  are  all  marshaled  into  perfect 
uniformity  of  action  the  crystal  becomes  a  perfect 
structure  well  nigh  indestructible.  This  principle  of 
the  crystalline  formation  of  the  elements  is  the  basis 
of  world  building. 

In  a  small  volume  entitled  "  Planetary  Evolution," 
the  learned  author,  who  is  too  modest  to  give  his 
name,  says:  " Atoms  are  absolute  potentialities, 
creative  rather  than  created  conditions  of  the  ele- 
ments, and  have  the  power  of  inherent  energy  or 
life  motion.  All  tests  show  the  atom  remains  the 
inscrutable  source  of  creative  power,  and  the  basis 
of  all  chemical  activity,  and  must  be  the  basic  princi- 
ple of  world  building,  life  motion  and  life  energy. 

"In  all  the  operations  of  chemical  transmutations 
no  material  is  lost  and  no  power  wasted,  and,  by  the 
law  of  the  conservation  and  correlation  of  force, 
both  energy  and  material  must  exist  as  correlatives. 


CONFIRMS  SCIENTIFIC  EVOLUTION  55 

This  places  the  nature  of  matter  upon  the  same 
basis  as  the  origin  of  power.  The  transformation  of 
force  into  material  is  impossible.  Force  follows  the 
laws  of  motion,  and  atoms  the  law  of  form  obedient 
to  the  lines  of  motion."  This  is  well  stated. 

This  author  says  further  :  ' l  The  atom  has  the  power 
to  assume  form  and  create  form,  and  matter  and 
force  cannot  be  transformed  into  each  other."  Then 
this  power  or  force  must  come  from  electricity,  the 
primary  force  in  nature;  and  it  has  power  to  assume 
form  and  create  form  by  reason  of  electric  energy 
controlled  by  spirit  intelligence.  In  planetary  con- 
struction the  first  thing  that  meets  our  vision  is  the 
arrangement  of  the  atoms  in  crystalline  forma- 
tion, which  is  the  foundation  of  all  planetary  struc- 
ture. The  atoms  in  space  continually  change  their 
relative  positions  and  construct  world  forms  and 
organic  forms  of  beauty  and  power.  They  settle 
into  globular  spheres  with  all  the  precision  of  a 
trained  army  or  a  disciplined  mass  of  life  and 
energy,  forming  the  crystalline  masses  that  compose 
the  primitive  foundations  of  the  earth. 

Polarity  has  much  to  do  with  the  phenomena  of 
crystallization.  The  same  author  says  :  "  Polarity  is 
the  result  of  the  transverse  lines  in  which  the  atoms 
move  previous  to  their  comparative  arrest.  The 
planet  as  a  globe  can  have  only  two  poles,  but  the 
crystal  has  as  many  as  the  lines  of  direction  in 
which  the  moving  atoms  cross  each  other's  path." 

In  interstellar  space  he  affirms  the  atomic  rela- 
tions of  the  elements  are  undisturbed  by  any  power 
that  would  tend  to  divert  the  atom  from  its  move- 
ment in  a  straight  line;  force  is  transmitted  from 
atom  to  atom  without  any  effect  upon  its  motion 


56  THE  UNIVERSE 

or  change  of  equilibrium.  The  power  of  transfer  is 
the  basic  principle  of  the  electric  current,  and  as 
long  as  the  direction  of  the  current  lies  in  one  of  the 
lines  of  atomic  motion  the  current  passes  without 
resistance  and  is  imperceptible ;  but  if  it  chances  to 
meet  in  its  pathway  a  line  of  force  passing  from 
atom  to  atom  in  a  different  direction,  there  is  in- 
stantly a  neutralization  of  motion  and  the  arrest  of 
each  atom  at  the  point  of  crossing  which  gives 
polarity,  and  the  molecule  is  the  result.  In  space 
the  electric  current  is  the  first  form  of  creative 
manifestations  the  atoms  assume. 

Electricity  belongs  to  the  atomic  forces,  has 
intimate  relations  with  organic  life,  and  gives  us  a 
key  to  unlock  its  mysteries.  Electric  energy  plays 
such  an  important  part  in  cosmic  construction  that 
without  some  knowledge  of  its  nature  it  is  impossible 
to  explain  the  processes  which  are  the  basis  of  world 
building. 

The  crystal  rock  under  microscopic  examination 
shows  the  same  beautiful  figures  and  marvelous 
lines  of  arrangement  that  in  winter  the  new  fallen 
snow-flakes  exhibit,  and  indicate  that  the  lines  of 
form  are  essentially  the  same  that  gave  the  planet- 
ary rock  its  forms  of  crystalline  beauty  and  massive 
structure.  And  the  beautiful  snow  that  falls  so 
gently  upon  the  wintry  lap  of  earth  is  one  of  the 
best  representatives  of  creative  power  acting  in  the 
primitive  states  of  formative  forces.  This  tends  to 
show  that  the  earth  began  its  formative  period  in 
extreme  cold  and  not  heat,  for  the  formative  lines  of 
shape  and  force  are  the  same  in  the  crystal  ice  and 
crystalline  snowflake  as  they  are  in  the  crystalline 
rocks  of  earth's  primary  foundations.  And  they  all 


CONFIRMS  SCIENTIFIC  EVOLUTION  57 

indicate  the  lines  of  electric  energy  and  magnetic 
force  in  atomic  activity  and  molecular  formations, 
which  are  the  beginning  of  all  visible  material  crea- 
tions. 

The  shaping  of  the  molecules  of  the  so-called 
cosmic  elements  by  electric  energy  into  crystalline 
form  is  the  second  great  step  in  world  building. 
While  magnetism  (the  dual  force  of  electricity) 
serves  to  hold  the  form-structure  in  more  or  less 
enduring  relations,  for  the  magnet  has  the  power  to 
radiate  atomic  force  in  circles  and  tends  to  draw 
the  elements  into  form  and  hold  them  there.  The 
electric  force  keeps  the  atoms  always  moving;  the 
magnetic  force  keeps  them  or  would  keep  them  in 
atomic  balance,  or  at  rest,  but  electricity  keeps 
magnetism  always  on  the  alert,  and  between  the 
action  of  the  two,  or  attraction  and  repulsion,  all 
visible  forms  are  evolved  and  dissolved. 

Thus  magnetism  is  the  centripetal  force,  of  plan- 
etary construction,  and  electricity  the  centrifugal 
power  of  planetary  changes,  and  upon  these  two  de- 
pend all  the  complex  varieties  of  inorganic  and  or- 
ganic forms  that  exist.  And  so  long  as  they  exist 
with  their  powers  of  atomic  motion  so  long  will  world 
building  and  form  building  continue,  and  must  con- 
tinue through  the  aeons  .of  creative  force. 

The  magnetic  state  of  the  earth,  with  the  pulsating 
currents  of  electric  force  in  the  atomic  and  radiant 
form,  plays  a  sovereign  part  in  the  economy  of  na- 
ture and  makes  the  planet  itself  alive  with  creative 
force  and  evolving  power. 

To  demonstrate  electrical  power  in  world  building 
and  the  shifting  relations  of  the  elements  in  the 
planetary  combinations,  watch  the  electric  plating 


58  THE  UNIVERSE 

battery  at  work.  There  you  will  see  the  atoms  in 
the  solution  flowing  towards  the  negative  pole  and 
depositing  themselves  in  minute  crystals  upon  the 
metallic  surface,  if  the  negative  pole  is  a  metal,  and 
adhering  with  great  pertinacity ;  the  metallic  crystals 
penetrate  the  crystalline  surface  of  the  substance  to 
be  plated  in  minute  arms  filling  up  the  infinitesimal 
space,  and  the  atoms  in  this  process  transfer  their 
atomic  motion  in  line  with  the  electric  force,  and 
become  arrested  as  in  the  primitive  state  when  they 
formed  the  crystalline  foundations  of  primitive  earth. 
It  will  be  found  that  the  power  or  electric  force 
required  to  plate  one  metal  is  just  the  same  as  to 
disintegrate  it,  and  the  electric  force  is  a  great 
solvent,  while  the  magnetic  force  is  a  concentrating 
form-moulding  world-building  power.  And  these  two 
forces  evenly  balanced  perpetuate  the  universe.  The 
fluidic  condition  of  matter  arises  from  molecular 
activity  before  the  atoms  have  assumed  the  crystal- 
line state,  and  all  fluids  are  easily  vaporized  to 
invisible  gases. 

The  primitive  planet,  in  coming  from  nebula  to 
crystalline  form,  had  to  pass  through  the  fluidic 
state,  because  the  electric  atomic  balance  had  not 
yet  been  acquired  sufficient  to  produce  solidity. 

In  this  stage  there  could  be  no  organic  life ;  but  the 
earth  was  enveloped  in  dense  clouds  of  vapor,  and 
there  was  no  light  for  many  ages,  because  the 
earth's  surface  was  below  the  electric  and  atomic 
rate  that  produced  light,  and  the  dense  gases  and 
vapors  floating  around  it  and  between  it  and  the 
sun  prevented  the  light  penetrating  its  atmospheric 
pall  of  darkness. 

But  in  that  darkness  and  vapor  and  cosmic  con- 


CONFIRMS  SCIENTIFIC  EVOLUTION  59 

vulsions  was  going  forward  the  processes  of  organic 
construction  essential  to  fit  it  for  the  coming  genera- 
tions of  sentient  life.  Night  and  darkness  ruled,  but 
chaos  had  no  part,  and  never  ruled  in  all  the  cycles 
of  creative  power.  The  direct  currents  of  electric 
force  and  the  circular  currents  of  magnetic  power 
swept  through  and  through  earth's  molecular  struc- 
ture, ranging  the  atoms  in  all  the  lines  of  crystal 
perfection  and  spherical  form,  and  laying  the  rock- 
ribbed  foundations  in  geological  stratas  in  the 
heart  and  center  of  a  growing  world. 

The  lines  of  electro-magnetic  force  at  this  period  in 
the  planet,  with  their  circular  spiral  motion,  would 
shape  the  world  into  a  globular  spherical  form,  and 
the  elements  in  watery  solution  would  almost  come 
into  crystalline  firmness,  and  then  an  impulse  of 
electrical  power  would  throw  them  into  restless  agi- 
tation ;  and  again  they  would  respond  to  the  grasp 
of  magnetic  strength  and  return  to  a  state  of  par- 
tial arrest  near  the  crystal  condition,  and  again 
sway  back  to  the  electric  primitive  molecular  state. 
But  they  could  not  get  free  from  the  lines  of  mag- 
netic force  which  held  them  with  giant  grasp  until 
they  were  incorporated  into  the  foundation  rocks  of 
earth's  solidifying  sphere.  And  the  centre  of  our 
planet  became  a  vast  solid  crystalline  magnet,  and 
was  never  a  fiery  mist  or  molten  substance. 

Finally  when  the  crystalline  rocks  were  settled  into 
a  crystalline  globe  the  life-cell  was  born  as  the  basis 
of  a  new  condition  of  planetary  form.  And  in  the 
dark  waters  where  no  light  was,  organic  life  under 
the  law  of  creative  electric  energy  began  its  work 
upon  the  planet.  The  life-cell  is  the  resultant  of 
electric-magnetic  action. 


60  THE  UNIVERSE 

During  this  period  of  primeval  "  darkness  upon  the 
face  of  the  earth,"  the  resistless  electric  waves  of  the 
sun  were  beating  upon  the  cloud-enwrapped  surface 
of  the  planet,  but  its  light  had  no  power  to  penetrate 
its  Cimmerian  gloom.  And  the  earth  was  sending 
back  its  pulsating  magnetic  currents  to  the  sun,  and 
both  were  evolving  themselves  into  giant  dynamos 
of  marvelous  electric  power — giving  and  receiving 
electric  currents  of  positive  and  negative  polarity  of 
wonderful  life-giving  potency.  Gradually  the  earth 
solidified  into  a  vast  magnet  of  crystalline  rock  and 
metal  and  like  the  magnetic  core  of  a  steel  magnet 
of  vast  extent  and  power,  it  drew  millions  of  me- 
teors from  space. 

The  internal  electric  forces  in  volcanic  convulsions 
were  upheaving  islands,  continents  and  mountain 
ranges,  rending  the  rocks  and  crystalline  strata  in 
the  contracting  crust  of  the  earth,  amid  lightning 
flashes  and  resounding  crashes  of  thunder,  like  the 
fabled  Titans  in  primeval  battle.  It  was  a  contest 
of  the  giant  forces  in  their  elemental  power  baptizing 
a  world  in  the  fires  of  creative  and  creating  energ}^. 
The  planet  was  shaken  by  magnetic  force  and  torn 
and  agitated  by  electric  storms.  Gigantic  boulders 
were  dislodged  from  the  surface  and  ground  into 
powder  against  each  other,  making  soil  for  coming 
vegetation  and  marking  out  the  pathway  of  the 
rivers  and  valleys.  It  was  the  adjustment  of  ele- 
mental forces,  the  night  of  ages  in  whose  depths 
and  womb  of  viewless  power  conscious  life  originated 
by  electric  energy  under  the  evolving  law  of  evolu- 
tion as  the  will  of  Creative  Deity.  And  the  moun- 
tain ranges  following  the  lines  of  axial  direction  of 
the  two  poles  upon  opposite  sides  of  the  planet  be- 


CONFIRMS  SCIENTIFIC  EVOLUTION  61 

gan  to  slowly  rise  above  the  surrounding  waters, 
and  lifted  their  mighty  crests  above  a  world  floating 
in  surging  waters,  and  darkness,  except  as  it  was 
lit  up  by  lightning  gleams  of  electric  power.  It  may 
be  that  during  this  stage  of  the  planet  was  laid  the 
foundation  of  all  the  distinctive  types  of  life-force, 
including  the  cell  forms  that  lay  at  the  basis  of  liv- 
ing structure,  the  plant  forms  and  the  living  forms 
of  animalcular  life  that  float  in  the  ocean  below 
and  mists  above.  All  of  which  had  their  home  and 
birth  in  the  dense  darkness  that  covered  the  face  of 
the  deep. 

It  was  the  formative  period  of  elementary  life,  and 
the  descendants  and  successors  of  that  mighty  host 
of  living  beings  have  to  this  day  to  lay  the  founda- 
tions of  their  being  in  similar  conditions  of  darkness. 
Creative  energy  in  its  first  stages  of  living  form 
operates  in  dense  darkness,  and  the  first  life  upon 
the  planet  began  and  perfected  itself  in  the  age  when 
midnight  gloom  enveloped  the  globe.  "  The  Supreme 
Power,"  says  the  author  of  " Planetary  Evolution," 
1 1  wrought  out  its  purpose  with  no  eye  to  discern  its 
workings  and  no  helpless  ignorance  to  dictate  what 
was  needed  to  make  a  world."  The  deep-sea  sound- 
ings show  that  life  still  exists  there  without  the  aid 
of  sunlight  and  that  there  is  no  limit  to  the  domain 
of  organic  life.  And  the  necessity  exists  even  at  this 
age  for  darkness  during  the  formative  processes  of 
embryonic  life. 

All  microscopic  life  embodies  the  essential  charac- 
teristics of  activity  and  form  that  distinguish  many 
of  the  distinct  types  of  animal  and  vegetable  life. 
The  mould  that  gathers  upon  decaying  bread  is  a 
great  forest  when  sufficiently  magnified.  The  wig- 


62  THE  UNIVERSE 

gling  animalculae  in  the  stagnant  water  is  but  a 
prototype  of  the  writhing  serpent  of  the  Brazilian 
forest.  In  these  two  types  of  minute  organic  being 
we  see  the  first  stages  of  life  in  planetary  forma- 
tion. And  the  induced  electric  energy  on  the  animal- 
culine  organism  compelled  it  to  both  growth  and 
activity,  and,  obedient  to  that  principle,  it  added  cell 
to  cell  in  any  direction  that  that  electric  energy  in 
that  form  sought  relief,  thus  producing  different 
types  of  organic  structure.  The  influence  of  the 
pent-up  currents  of  electric  energy  was  destined  to 
have  a  moulding  power  upon  the  higher  types  of 
organic  life,  for  their  influence  upon  the  living  form 
soon  became  manifest  in  the  construction  of  nerve- 
tissue,  which  is  the  basis  of  all  animal  structure,  and 
the  beginning  of  all  embryotic  form,  and  is  essen- 
tially the  same  in  all  organic  life. 

All  attempts  of  science  to  formulate  a  theory  of 
the  source  of  life  end  in  an  abstraction.  To  teach 
that  life  originates  in  a  germ  leads  to  an  analysis 
that  shows  the  germ  is  a  compound  form  itself,  and 
one  of  the  stages  of  incipient  life.  The  advocate  of 
the  cell  as  the  primitive  source  of  life  soon  discovers 
that  the  cell  is  the  result  of  chemical  forces  that 
have  not  yet  arrived  at  the  germ  state,  and  that 
both  the  germ  and  the  cell  are  but  successive  stages 
of  life  development,  and  we  must  go  further  back 
into  the  realm  of  the  invisible  electro-magnetic 
forces  for  the  true  source  of  physical  life.  Here  the 
untrained  intellect  is  bewildered  and  is  unable  to 
discern  any  relation  of  force  beyond  the  physical 
senses,  and  science  and  reasoning  causation  must 
explore  the  invisible  realities,  and  realms  of  force 
beyond  the  physical  senses,  which  requires  the  high- 


CONFIRMS  SCIENTIFIC  EVOLUTION  ,  63 

est  order  of  mental  training.  It  is  in  the  mental 
realm,  the  realm  of  spirit  and  electricity,  that  we 
must  seek  the  solution  of  all  the  higher  problems  of 
life  and  destiny. 

In  the  spermatozoa  of  the  male  is  the  first  evolu- 
tion of  the  organic  life  of  the  planet.  It  is  the 
electro-chemical  combination  of  elements  in  which 
the  primitive  cell  was  formed,  and  in  nature's  cor- 
responding environment  it  goes  steadily  forward 
through  all  previous  stages  until  perfected  in  form, 
and  becomes  a  miniature  production  of  its  parent 
structure.  It  thus  unconsciously  followed  the  forces 
and  elements  of  the  parent  organism  whereby  that 
parent  organism  came  into  being  from  its  parent, 
and  so  on  backward  for  generations  and  ages.  And 
in  order  to  perfect  the  power  of  sex  to  the  highest 
degree  and  preserve  the  life  of  the  race,  there  was  a 
differentiation  in  the  embryonic  state,  whereby  one 
organism,  the  male,  became  the  power  to  preserve 
the  energy,  while  the  other,  the  female,  became  the 
environment  to  perfect  the  form. 

This  was  no  miracle,  but  a  response  of  the  organ- 
ism to  the  waves  of  electric  power  in  the  planet, 
which  at  times  and  conditions  would  be  more  posi- 
tive or  negative  in  their  electric  energy.  For  all  the 
elements  of  life  and  the  universe  animate  and  inani- 
mate are  sexual,  male  or  female,  positive  or  nega- 
tive, in  their  natural  relations. 

The  higher  types  of  life  are  almost  wholly  depend- 
ent upon  the  arrangement  of  the  cells  on  a  high 
electric  tension,  and  the  early  forms  were  almost 
wholly  of  nerve-tissue  structures,  and  the  primitive 
animalculas  followed  the  law  of  differentiation  and 
were  able  to  construct  muscular  fiber  and  bone  for- 


64  THE  UNIVERSE 

mation,  and  became  the  fish  and  reptiles  that  in- 
habited the  ancient  seas. 

The  processes  of  planetary  formation  are  result- 
ants of  electrical  action  among  the  elements  that 
form  the  planet,  and  here  is  the  true  field  of  scien- 
tific research  for  the  knowledge  of  causation  as  ex- 
pressed through  world  construction.  To  the  chemist 
and  electrician  belong  the  task  of  explaining  the 
processes  of  world  building  as  well  as  the  secrets  of 
life  itself,  and  they  must  be  found  in  the  laws  that 
control  the  electro-magnetic  ether  that  permeates 
all  atoms  and  space. 

In  the  paleozoic  age  there  were  surging  tides  of 
electric  energy  through  the  planet  itself,  producing 
induced  currents  in  all  the  forming  bodies  upon  its 
surface.  And  these  primative  currents  swept  the  cell- 
formations  into  lines  parallel  with  their  lines  of 
force  the  same  as  crystallizations,  and  as  they  were 
floating  in  circumambient  water,  the  cells  took  the 
form  of  tissue  structure,  forming  organs  that  fol- 
lowed the  crystalline  law  of  self  preservation,  and, 
in  response  to  changing  electric  currents,  throwing 
out  new  cell-structures. 

Nerve  tissue  is  the  highest  form  of  atomic  balance 
that  is  visible,  and  the  true  basis  of  form  structure 
that  has  vitality  to  meet  the  shifting  electric  cur- 
rents. The  tiny  cells  joined  themselves  to  form  new 
structures  to  respond  to  the  electric  waves,  while  the 
lower  magnetic  induction  of  the  planet  sent  its 
power  over  the  new  tissue  to  hold  it  in  form  so  that 
the  organism  could  be  partially  permanent  in  form 
in  its  new  environment.  In  this  manner  the  organ- 
ism grew  and  expanded  from  the  primitive  animal- 
cular  nerve  type  to  the  consolidated,  firm  tissue  that 


UNIVERSITY 


CONFIRMS  St'rBWTimC  EVOLUTION  65 

enabled  it  to  hold  itself  from  dissolution  tinder  ad- 
verse conditions  and  planetary  changes.  The  action 
of  electric  force  in  building  secondary  forms  with  a 
magnetism  of  their  own  is  one  of  the  most  wonderful 
exhibitions  of  nature. 

And  now  comes  a  startling  result  of  this  type  of 
energy  that  has  called  living  organism  into  being 
from  the  lower  grades  of  atomic  life.  The  cells  that 
have  formed  themselves  around  a  central  point,  as  in 
the  crystalline  state,  begin  to  quiver  and  vibrate  with 
a  strong  rapidity  that  defies  all  power  of  restraint. 
In  them  is  to  be  seen  a  new  relation  of  the  elements 
that  grade  still  higher  in  the  scale  of  atomic  action. 
They  have  risen  in  the  power  of  sensitiveness  above 
the  plane  of  receptive  response  to  the  swaying  cur- 
rents of  the  earth,  and  begin  to  send  out  currents  of 
their  own.  Those  currents  penetrate  the  whole  sys- 
tem with  strange  energy,  and  the  organism  begins 
to  respond  with  new  expressions  of  power.  It  moves 
with  reference  to  the  currents  that  it  creates  itself, 
and  we  have  the  first  type  of  creation  with  a  brain 
center  governing  the  whole  system. 

That  brain  tissue  is  the  result  of  the  action  in- 
direct of  the  electric  energy  that  is  sweeping  the 
planet  in  ceaseless  lines  of  force  and  power.  It 
sends  its  induced  currents  upon  all  the  forming  host 
of  animalcular  life  floating  in  the  dark  waters,  and 
some  begin  to  grow  brains.  ^^^^ 

The  cellular  structure  ranges  itselfm  line  with  the 
positive  and  negative  polarity  that  made  the  crystal- 
line form  of  the  world  a  globe,  and  from  that  living 
cell-battery  go  out  the  currents  that  control  the 
form  by  the  inward  force  that  ever  after  is  to  witness 
to  the  power  of  constructive  energy  to  create  living 
5 


66  THE  UNIVERSE 

beings  with  sentient  power  to  regulate  and  control 
their  own  destiny. 

Meanwhile  the  surging  tides  of  electric  energy  are 
forcing  the  continents  upward,  and  the  fish  that 
swim  in  the  paleozoic  seas  find  the  waters  receding 
and  himself  part  of  the  time  on  the  land  or  in  the 
mud  and  shallows,  and  the  growing  organism,  from 
generation  to  generation  becomes  adapted  to  each 
condition  of  life  on  land  and  water.  Then  comes  to 
pass  the  raising  of  the  organism  from  the  fish  to  the 
reptile  by  the  influence  of  electrical  induction  and 
change  of  environment.  Then  also  comes  the  growth 
of  plant  life,  and  the  marvelous  varieties  of  vegeta- 
tion in  the  form  of  tree  and  shrub  and  grass.  Upon 
the  land,  half  submerged,  the  vegetation  that  had  its 
rootlets  in  the  former  ocean  bed  grew  from  sea 
weeds  into  rank  grasses  and  ferns,  the  types  of  which 
are  seen  to  this  day  in  the  dense  forests  and  jungles 
of  the  tropics. 

In  the  early  period  of  the  paleozoic  age  the  mo- 
lusks,  polyps,  and  marine  plants  were  evolved  with- 
out any  reference  to  light  whatever  and  depended  on 
the  sense  of  feeling  to  provide  for  the  necessary  food 
supplies  to  maintain  their  organism. 

We  have  in  the  night-blooming  cereus  a  flower 
that  belonged  in  that  epoch  of  the  world's  evolution 
when  plants  flowered  and  perfected  their  seed  bearing 
in  the  dark.  And  in  the  salamander,  beaver  and 
hippopotamus  a  type  of  the  amphibious  animals  of 
the  early  ages.  We  have  in  the  bat  a  type  of  animal 
that  flourished  in  the  darkness  of  earth's  formative 
period,  and  in  the  embryonic  period  of  animal  and 
man  we  find  the  beginning  of  the  life  processes  in  the 
darkness  of  the  womb,  and  all  seed  of  vegetable  and 


CONFIRMS  SCIENTIFIC  EVOLUTION  67 

plant  must  be  buried  in  the  darkness  of  earth  before 
it  can  bring  forth  new  life. 

Every  living  structure  on  the  planet  takes  form  by 
the  laws  of  nature's  creative  processes;  and  the 
secret  unfolding  of  life  structure  to-day,  however 
perfect  at  maturity,  is  a  complete  record  of  all  the 
previous  stages  of  formative  growth  in  animal  life, 
from  the  vertebra  of  the  fish  to  the  contour  of  the 
mammal  and  the  man,  condensed  as  to  time  during 
the  period  of  gestation,  but  following  the  original 
lines  of  formative  structure,  power  and  principle. 

This  and  all  growth  and  evolution  is  the  result  of 
electrical  energy  under  divine  law  and  spiritual  con- 
trol. Electrical  power  is  the  great  agent  in  arrang- 
ing molecular  compounds  into  all  forms  of  animal 
and  plant  life  as  well  as  crystalline  structures  and 
world  forms.  The  duplicates  of  plant  life  with  the 
secondary  crystalline  forms  are  found  in  limestone 
caverns  of  the  earth.  There,  in  the  dense  stillness  of 
eternal  night,  many  forms  that  are  seen  above 
ground  as  plants  and  flowers  are  there  wrought  out 
in  solid  stone,  as  the  crystalline  limestone  rock  has 
arranged  its  molecular  structure  obedient  to  the 
same  lines  of  form  as  the  electric  currents  in  the 
upper  atmosphere  follow  in  vegetable  life. 

Thus  in  the  eternal  nature  of  the  atom  and  elec- 
tric energy  with  their  inherent  potencies  the  Creator 
has  abundant  resources  not  only  to  make  this 
planet,  but  also  the  countless  worlds  of  boundless 
space.  And  in  the  wonders  of  electrical  potency  in 
this  planet  alone  He  is  constantly  producing  results 
that  excite  profound  gratitude  and  reverence.  At 
length  when  the  clouds  of  darkness  faded  away  and 
the  atmosphere  became  translucent,  and  the  glorious 


68  THE  UNIVERSE 

light  of  the  sun— the  great  electric  heart  of  our 
system  of  worlds — shone  upon  the  earth,  there  was  a 
new  realm  of  infinite  life  and  expression  to  lift  the 
world  and  all  organic  life  to  a  higher  state  of  per- 
fection. 

While  the  world,  like  an  enormous  battery,  had  in 
itself  enough  energy  to  hold  the  planet  in  its  spher- 
ical form  and  to  stimulate  to  activity  the  secondary 
forms  of  life,  had  not  the  sun  come  into  more  vigor- 
ous activity  with  its  electric  life-giving  energy  the 
earth  could  not  have  gone  above  the  primitive 
forms  of  life.  With  this  greater  influx  of  power  from 
another  sphere  of  causative  energy,  the  dark  age  of 
animality  passed  and  the  monstrous  types  faded 
out,  and  in  the  place  of  them  the  world  began  to 
bear  a  class  of  beings  that  could  reflect  the  power 
and  principles  of  light  and  beauty.  And  under  the 
pulsations  of  the  sun's  electrical  and  magnetic  en- 
ergy the  earth  started  on  its  marvelous  career  of 
organic  growth  and  development. 

The  sun,  as  an  immense  electrical  reservoir  battery, 
must  radiate  in  all  directions  its  electric  vibratory 
power  over  the  surging  elements  in  its  own  environ- 
ment and  from  thence  through  electric  atomic  trans- 
fer to  bodies  in  space.  So  that  whenever  a  body  was 
in  direct  line  with  the  magnetic  centers  of  the  sun, 
the  arrest  of  the  electric  current  and  atomic  motion 
coming  from  the  sun's  center  by  another  magnetic 
center,  as  the  earth  or  any  other  planet,  would  in- 
stantly change  the  rate  of  the  environment  of  the 
planet  magnet  to  a  grade  of  intensity  that  would 
give  light  and  heat.  In  this  manner  light,  heat  and 
greater  vital  force  was  born  upon  the  earth,  when 
its  dark  clouds  lifted  and  its  atmosphere  became 


CONFIRMS  SCIENTIFIC  EVOLUTION  69 

translucent,  so  that  the  sun's  electric  currents  could 
affect  the  earth  through  electric  transfer.  Thus  the 
influx  of  external  light  upon  planetary  life  was 
positive  and  marvelous,  introducing  a  new  power 
upon  the  forming  organic  life  in  the  vegetable  and 
animal  world,  and  working  great  changes  in  all 
organic  structures.  And  in  response  to  this  new 
power  the  eye  began  to  form  and  a  new  and  distinct 
organ  of  sense  was  perfected.  It  was  slowly  devel- 
oped at  first,  for  the  light  radiated  from  the  sun 
penetrated  the  mists  of  earth  dimly,  for  it  was  al- 
most midnight  gloom  in  some  sections  and  dusky 
twilight  in  others. 

So  far  I  have  said  nothing  of  excessive  heat,  for 
the  earth  began  in  excessive  cold.  But  as  the  earth 
magnet  or  dynamo  increased  its  electric  power  it 
increased  its  heat. 

We  now  come  to  the  dawn  of  instinct  or  ration- 
ality in  the  primitive  types  of  life.  There  we  find  a 
basis  for  the  first  principles  of  instinct  or  animal 
rationality  in  the  balancing  of  one  sense  by  the 
exercise  of  another,  and  the  combined  results  of  the 
two.  Seeing  and  feeling  gave  a  higher  type  of  brain 
power,  and  raised  that  organ  to  a  higher  grade  of 
perception  and  a  newer  type  of  intelligence. 

Then  another  faculty  added  its  powers  to  the  sense 
of  sight  and  feeling,  for  the  atmosphere  in  which  the 
reptilian  tribes  were  living  half  the  time  or  more 
were  sending  out  sound  waves  which  touched  the 
nervous  filaments  of  the  central  battery  of  the 
brain,  and  as  the  eye  had  formed  to  respond  to  the 
waves  of  ether  caused  by  the  electric  currents  of  the 
sun,  so  a  new  organ  began  its  formation  in  response 
to  the  incoming  waves  of  power  the  atmosphere 


70  THE  UNIVERSE 

brought  to  the  brain-cells,  and  the  ear  began  to 
gather  in  concentric  circles  around  the  brain-center, 
and  a  new  sense— that  of  hearing— was  formed.  Thus 
there  was  an  additional  increase  of  the  power  of 
perception  or  instinct.  Thus  were  evolved  all  types 
of  animal  form  and  animal  instinct.  They  were  the 
result  of  electric  energy,  sense  perception,  and  long 
ages  of  growth,  comparison  and  environment. 

Then  came  man,  the  highest  type  of  animal  or- 
ganism. Man  may  have  passed  the  successive 
changes  and  transmutations  of  form  that  the  shift- 
ing vibratory  rates  of  the  planet  responded  to  in  the 
long  period  of  world  building.  He  may  have  at- 
tained to  the  grade  of  animal  activity  as  a  mind  of 
the  highest  order  in  bodily  form  before  he  received 
the  spiritual  powers  and  intellectual  force  which  he 
has  exhibited  all  along  the  ages,,  after  all  animal 
forms  had  battled  with  the  elements  in  the  struggles 
to  keep  in  equilibrium  between  the  surging  tides  of 
electrical  dispersion  and  magnetic  concentration. 
Certain  it  is  man  holds  his  own  by  virtue  of  his 
steady  rise  in  mental  power  which  has  no  limit  of 
evolution  in  the  present  stage  of  physical  life  and 
psycbic  life.  And  there  are  no  known  boundaries  of 
his  power  to  penetrate  all  mysteries  and  explore  all 
conditions  of  existence  "  wherever  being  has  laid 
foundations,  or  law  is  working  out  the  problems  of 
infinite  destiny."  Man  came  as  a  spiritual  creation. 

Many  scientists  discard  the  religious  or  Mosaic 
concept  of  a  special  creation  of  man  and  a  divine 
revelation,  and  hold  that  the  revelations  of  science 
are  the  only  revelations  of  God  that  the  world  can 
regard  as  reliable. 

I  cannot  agree  with  them  that  man  was  evolved 


CONFIRMS  SCIENTIFIC  EVOLUTION  71 

from  the  animal  creation.  I  hold  he  was  a  special 
creation,  as  Moses  says  he  was;  but  that  special 
creation  was  not  his  body — that  may  have  been 
evolved  from  the  lowest  forms  of  animal  life  through 
many  ages,  and  is  no  part  of  the  real  man.  It  was 
woven  by  electric  law  and  energy  as  an  overcoat  of 
atoms  for  his  earthly  habitation.  Man's  body  is  not 
man,  but  the  house  in  which  he  lives  for  a  time,  the 
earthly  temple  of  the  soul.  Moses  affirms  this  when 
he  says  "God  breathed  into  man  the  breath  of  life, 
and  man  became  a  living  soul."  It  is  the  breath  of 
God,  the  atom  of  Deity,  the  living  soul  that  con- 
stitutes man,  and  that  was  a  special  creation.  This 
I  have  discussed  at  length  in  "  Invisible  Light."  I 
hold  no  law  of  evolution  could  bridge  the  gulf  be- 
tween man  and  the  animal  creation.  The  fixity  of 
brute  instinct,  and  the  boundless  expansion  of  men- 
tal and  psychic  force  in  man  forbid  such  a  conclusion 
and  confirm  Moses,  who  says  he  was  made  lord  over 
the  earth  and  all  animal  creations.  Man  has  three 
bodies — a  spiritual,  an  electric  and  a  physical  body. 
Animals  have  only  two — an  electric  and  physical 
body.  And  both  the  electric  and  physical  bodies  of 
men  and  animals  came  from  the  same  source  and 
are  governed  by  the  same  laws.  Animal  instinct  is 
not  spirit,  is  not  a  part  of  Deity,  it  cannot  dream 
of  God  or  heaven,  or  comprehend  the  universe  or 
weigh  suns  and  worlds. 

It  knows  only  the  electric  impulses  of  the  material 
senses  and  reasons  from  these  alone,  and,  by  balanc- 
ing one  sense  by  another,  attains  an  experience 
which  in  time  becomes  an  automatic  habit  or  force 
of  nature  under  the  law  of  its  electric  organism.  It 
feels  all  sensations,  like  hunger,  passion  or  fear,  as 


72  THE  UNIVERSE 

an  electric  impulse  on  the  sensitive  tissues  of  the 
brain  and  responds  from  natural  habit.  It  does 
not  think,  reason  or  soar  into  the  boundless  fields 
of  ideality.  It  cannot  feel  the  spiritual  touch  of 
human  souls,  or  the  divine  impulse  of  God  and  love, 
of  music,  poetry,  language,  art  and  religion,  as  does 
the  human  soul. 

Man  is  as  much  above  the  animal  creation  as  the 
animal  is  above  the  vegetable  and  the  vegetable 
above  the  mineral. 

We  have  seen  that  the  mineral  is  created  by  aggre- 
gations of  atoms  solidified  under  the  law  of  mag- 
netic attraction  and  brought  to  rest  by  balanced 
forces  into  crystalline  form,  and  thus  incorporated 
into  the  foundation  elements  of  the  earth  magnet. 
They  are  simply  electric  and  atomic  forces  and 
atoms  balanced  and  at  rest.  They  have  no  organic 
existence.  Vegetable  life,  which  is  next  above  them, 
have  organisms,  and  are  sun  engines  breathing  in 
nitrogen  and  giving  out  carbonic  acid  or  oxygen  to 
sustain  animal  life.  The  vegetable  organism  fur- 
nishes food  for  all  animal  life. 

There  can  be  no  evolution  of  plant  life  into  animal 
life.  It  is  not  scientific  to  search  for  such  an  irra- 
tional order  of  development.  Vegetable,  plant  and 
tree  in  their  organic  life  structure,  never  become 
animals.  They  have  no  independent  existence  sepa- 
rate from  the  sun's  rays  and  the  earth's  soil  except 
as  latent  in  seed  life.  Cut  off  the  sun  currents  from 
their  leaves  and  the  electric  earth  currents  from  their 
roots,  and  they  are  at  once  weakened  and  destroyed. 

Animals  are  a  higher  order  of  life  which  have  an 
independent  existence  in  atmosphere  and  water- 
electric  elements— separate  from  earth  dust,  and 


CONFIRMS  SCIENTIFIC  EVOLUTION  73 

which  evolve  and  give  forth  in  their  own  organism 
the  electric  instinct  and  impulse  which  controls  their 
own  actions  and  habits. 

They  have  no  psychic  or  intellectual  force,  and  can 
never  be  evolved  into  human  souls  or  organisms. 
Man  is  as  far  above  the  animal  creation  as  the 
heavens  are  above  the  earth.  He  is  not  the  de- 
scendant of  a  monkey  or  any  other  animal  creature 
except  possibly  in  his  bodily  organism.  He  is  a 
soul  and  belongs  to  the  Spiritual  Kingdom  of  God. 

The  scientists  say  there  are  three  kingdoms  in 
nature — mineral,  vegetable  and  animal.  I  say  there 
are  four — mineral,  vegetable,  animal  and  man,  or 
the  spiritual  Kingdom  of  God.  Man  is  a  soul  or 
spiritual  body  which  is  from  God  and  a  part  of  God. 
He  can  think,  reason,  aspire,  analyze,  and  soar  into 
the  psychic  realms  of  the  spiritual  world  and  com- 
mune with  angels  and  Deity,  and  is  a  spirit  mon- 
arch of  the  universe. 

And  his  longing,  heaven-bound  nature  cries  out  to 
Deity:  "Thou  hast  made  us  for  thyself,  and  our 
souls  are  restless  till  we  rest  in  thee !" 

The  vegetable  has  the  elements  of  the  mineral, 
with  a  material  organism  added ;  the  animal  has  the 
elements  of  the  mineral  and  vegetable  with  a  mate- 
rial organism  and  an  electric  body  and  instinct 
added.  The  animal  may  possibly  live  hereafter  in 
his  electric  body  or  secondary  form.  Man  has  the 
elements  of  the  mineral  and  vegetable,  the  material 
body  and  the  electric  body  of  the  animal,  and  added 
to  all  these  he  has  a  psychic  or  spiritual  body,  which 
links  him  to  Deity,  and  makes  him  the  epitome  of 
all  creation,  the  child  of  God  and  the  universe,  and 
the  sovereign  of  eternal  life,  love  and  destiny. 


74  THE  UNIVERSE 

The  recent  discovery  of  a  man's  skull  at  Lansing, 
Kansas,  found  sixty  feet  below  the  earth's  surface, 
under  many  stratas  of  rock  formation  in  the  ooze  at 
the  bottom  of  a  sea  that  existed  in  the  glacial  period, 
shows  a  cranial  or  brain  development  equal  to  the 
average  man  of  the  present  day.  This  skull,  esti- 
mated by  scientists  to  be  from  thirty  to  forty  thou- 
sand years  old,  with  such  a  splendid  head  forma- 
tion, shows  conclusively  that  man  was  never  evolved 
from  the  animal  creation,  but  is  a  separate  and 
superior  being  above  the  animal,  and  lord  over  all 
the  animal  creation. 

This  Lansing  skull  is  one  of  the  greatest  discov- 
eries of  the  age  and  confirms  man's  high  lineage  and 
ancient  residence  on  this  revolving  planet,  and  sup- 
ports Moses  and  the  Bible. 

Also  the  recent  discoveries  in  the  ruins  of  Ninevah, 
Babylon,  Nipur,  and  other  ancient  cities  of  Asia 
Minor,  and  also  in  Egypt,  reveal  written  leases 
and  other  documents  eight  thousand  years  old, 
which  show  that  man  has  possessed  superior  knowl- 
edge and  intelligence  from  the  earliest  periods  of 
the  world's  history,  and  tend  to  support  the  bibli- 
cal theory  that  man  was  a  special  creation,  and 
not  an  evolution  in  his  psychic  nature  from  the 
lower  animals. 

Man  and  human  history,  while  complicating,  does 
not  alter  the  real  force  and  nature  of  evolution. 
While  it  is  said  "the  history  of  the  world  is  the 
biography  of  great  men,"  yet  if  Alexander,  Caesar, 
Napoleon,  Frederick  the  Great,  William  the  Con- 
queror and  other  great  men  were  eliminated,  it  would 
have  had  little  effect  in  disturbing  the  steady  onward 
course  of  the  world's  development. 


CONFIRMS  SCIENTIFIC  EVOLUTION  75 

Great  men  are  the  images,  symbols  and  instru- 
ments taken  at  random  by  the  constant  and  mighty 
forces  of  their  age  and  times  which  stood  behind 
them  and  swept  them  onward  in  their  great  careers. 
They  were  the  pens  of  Fate  used  in  her  writing,  the 
weather  vanes  of  destiny  which  turned  the  way  the 
currents  and  tides  of  invisible  forces  were  blowing. 

Humanity  of  the  past  and  present  is  not  final  but 
progressive.  Man's  marvelous  discoveries  in  science, 
his  aesthetic  culture  and  spiritual  growth  makes 
the  future  of  the  race  the  most  persistently  fascinat- 
ing question  of  the  age. 

Man  is  not  a  mere  animal,  but  is  one  with  Deity, 
and  a  part  of  that  unseen  spiritual  power  which 
directs  the  stars  in  their  infinite  courses,  gives  elec- 
tric brilliancy  to  the  all-dazzling  sun,  paints  the 
dawn  and  the  aurora,  colors  the  gorgeous  wings  of 
the  butterfly,  and  guides  insensate  matter  to  do  the 
will  of  Omnipotence. 


CHAPTER  V 

MAN  IS  A  SOUL  CLAD  IN  AIR.    A  SPIRIT   IN   AN   ELEC- 
TRIC ORGANISM 

MY  claim  that  man  is  an  electric  organism  is 
confirmed  by  Professor  Loeb  and  Dr.  Mathews  in 
their  recent  experiments  at  the  Chicago  University. 

"  Electrical  charges  in  the  atoms  of  the  bodily 
tissue  are  responsible  for  all  the  active  phenomena 
of  life.  In  other  words,  electricity  is  the  basis  of 
life."  This  is  the  sweeping  conclusion  with  which 
Dr.  Jacques  Loeb  amazed  the  physiologists  gathered 
in  their  last  annual  meeting  at  the  Chicago  Uni- 
versity. 

Hitherto  it  has  been  taken  for  granted  by  men 
of  science  that  the  food  we  eat  nourishes  us  by 
furnishing  the  tissues  and  muscles  of  the  body  with 
thermo  or  heat  energy.  This,  according  to  Pro- 
fessor Loeb,  is  totally  wrong.  Instead  of  the  food 
furnishing  the  muscle  with  heat  energy,  it  supplies 
electrical  energy,  which,  after  being  converted  into 
mechanical  energy,  is  responsible  for  all  the  muscu- 
lar contractions  and  organic  processes  of  living 
organisms. 

He  has  arrived  at  this  conclusion  after  many 
years  of  intricate  and  difficult  experiments  along 
the  line  of  reproduction  of  animals,  of  determining 
the  effect  of  salt  on  the  heart-beat  and  its  rymthic 
motion,  and  on  other  muscles,  and  of  the  destructive 


MAN  IS  A  SOUL  CLAD  IN  AIR  77 

processes  at  work  in  the  eggs  of  simple  tmicellar 
animals.  They  have  been  the  means  of  determi- 
ning the  answer  to  the  one  great  question,  "What 
is  life?"  and  he  regards  all  his  previous  discoveries 
subsidiary  to  this  one.  He  received  his  first  hint  of 
this  new  theory  of  life  through  the  fact  that  elec- 
tricity is  able  to  affect  protoplasm  in  a  more  uni- 
versal and  effective  way  than  any  other  form  of 
stimulus.  And  he  drew  the  inference  that  if  elec- 
tricity is  able  to  affect  protoplasm  in  the  form  of 
currents,  it  ought  to  do  so  in  the  form  of  ions, 
which  is  an  electrically  charged  atom  or  group  of 
atoms. 

In  experimenting  to  determine  the  toxic  and  anti- 
toxic of  ions  on  protoplasm,  which  is  the  basic 
substance  of  all  physical  life,  he  discovered  that 
any  one  salt  will  act  as  a  poison  on  the  eggs  of  a 
sea  urchin,  but  by  adding  one  or  more,  or  certain 
other  salts,  he  found  it  was  able  to  counteract  the 
effects  of  this  toxic  effect.  From  which  he  concluded 
that  the  toxic  and  antitoxic  effect  of  the  salts  were 
due  to  the  manner  in  which  its  atoms  are  electric- 
ally charged. 

He  found  that  when  a  salt  whose  atoms  are 
positively  charged  come  in  contact  with  the  eggs 
of  the  sea  urchin,  they  interfered  with  the  life  proc- 
esses, while  salts  whose  atoms  were  negatively 
charged  stimulate  contraction;  and  the  presence 
of  both  positively  and  negatively  charged  atoms 
were  necessary,  and  the  phenomena  of  life  is  due 
to  the  play  between  the  different  charges  of  elec- 
tricity in  the  molecules.  The  energy  of  foodstuffs 
and  motions  of  the  heart  and  other  muscles  of  the 
body  are  not  due  to  the  production  of  heat,  but 


78  THE  UNIVERSE 

to  the  chemical  energy  in  electrically  charged  mole- 
ulces. 

He  says  :  "A  part  of  the  chemical  energy  of  food- 
stuffs is  transformed  into  electric  energy,  which  gives 
energy  to  the  body.  In  one  experiment  I  put  a 
jelly-fish  in  contact  with  a  solution  of  electrically 
charged  substances,  and  it  immediately  responded 
by  muscular  contraction.  I  then  put  it  in  a  sub- 
stance that  was  a  non-conductor  and  there  was 
no  response.  In  this  way  I  concluded  it  was  the 
electric  charges  which  effected  the  muscular  con- 
traction, that  a  pure  salt  always  acts  as  a  poison 
to  the  egg,  and  in  order  not  to  have  toxic  effects 
it  is  necessary  that  the  positive  and  negative  elec- 
tric charges  should  easily  balance.  A  muscle  is 
stimulated  by  electro-negatively  charged  particles, 
and  prevented  from  contracting  by  electro-posi- 
tively  charged  particles. 

"'I  have  experimented  with  eggs  of  different  low 
forms  of  animal  life,  with  single  protoplasmic  cells, 
and  with  muscles.  Professor  Mathews  has  shown 
that  my  results  hold  true  for  nerves.  I  took  the 
eggs  of  the  fundulus  and  found  that  after  they 
were  fertilized  they  will  develop  in  sea  water. 

"In  a  sodium-chloride  solution  I  found  they  will 
not  develop,  but  by  adding  a  trace  of  calcium  as 
many  eggs  will  develop  as  in  the  sea  water.  This 
is  due  to  the  electrically  charged  atoms  of  the  cal- 
cium. Artificial  parthenogenesis,  or  life  artificially 
produced,  has  been  of  interest  only  as  it  leads  me 
to  learn  how  the  electric  charges  of  ions  affect 
life  phenomena.  You  can  bring  about  partheno- 
genesis only  by  positive  ions.  I  have  come  to 
two  conclusions  :  First,  rythmical  contraction  occurs 


MAN  IS  A  SOUL  CLAD  IN  AIR  79 

only  in  the  presence  of  electrically  charged  sub- 
tances.  Second,  the  efficiency  of  the  charges  de- 
pends upon  the  number  of  the  charges  or  the  differ- 
ent ions.  Professor  Mathews  has  arrived  at  a  third 
conclusion,  which  is,  that  the  negatively  charged 
ions  are  those  which  stimulate,  and  the  positively 
charged  ions  are  those  which  hinder  contraction." 

Dr.  Loeb's  paper  created  a  sensation  among  the 
assembled  scientists,  as  also  did  that  of  Professor 
A.  P.  Mathews,  on  "The  Nature  of  the  Nerve  Stimu- 
lation and  Alteration  of  Irritability."  "Dr.  Loeb's 
discoveries  have  revolutionized  the  basic  principles 
of  physiology,"  declared  one  of  the  scientists.  "A 
greater  part  of  the  text-books  on  this  subject  will 
have  to  be  rewritten  to  accord  with  the  results  of 
these  new  views  of  life  phenomena."  And  Dr.  G.  N. 
Stewart,  who  presided  at  the  meeting,  eulogized  Dr. 
Loeb  and  said,  "He  has  given  us  an  insight  into 
the  mechanics  of  living  tissue  which  we  never  before 
have  had.  He  has  brought  forward  the  science  of 
electro-physiology,  which  has  hitherto  been  despised, 
but  which  will  now  be  accorded  a  respectable  posi- 
tion." 

Professor  Garrett  P.  Serviss  says  :  "  This  discovery 
of  Dr.  Loeb  and  Prof.  Mathews  comes  closer  to  the 
solution  of  the  mystery  of  life  than  physiologists 
have  ever  before  been  able  to  approach,  and  is  so 
fundamental  and  far  reaching  as  to  warrant  the 
hope  that  we  shall  soon  know  what  are  the  con- 
ditions and  the  limits  of  man's  power  to  prolong 
his  own  life. 

'  'The  whole  foundation  of  physiology  and  medi- 
cine may  be  reconstructed,  and  we  may  find  that 
we  possess  a  control  over  the  phenomena  of  life 


80  THE  UNIVERSE 

more  masterful  than  anybody  has  yet  dared  to 
dream.  Briefly,  it  has  been  discovered  that  our 
nerves  consist  of  what  is  called  a  colloidal  solution — 
that  is,  matter  resembling  gelatin  held  in  solution 
in  water  before  it  is  jellied,  and  these  colloidal  par- 
ticles in  the  nerves  carry  charges  of  positive  electric- 
ity. When  the  nerve  particles  pass  from  the  colloidal 
condition  into  the  state  of  gelation,  or  become  jel- 
lied, the  nerve  experiences  a  stimulation  or  becomes 
active.  This  is  produced  by  the  action  of  atoms 
or  ions  bearing  charges  of  negative  electricity. 

"This  explains  the  action  of  certain  chemical  sub- 
stances when  introduced  into  the  human  body, 
some  of  which  tend  to  quiet  the  nerves  and  others 
to  excite  them.  The  nerve-quieting  ions  are  those 
that  bear  charges  of  positive  electricity,  such  as 
atoms  of  sodium,  potassium,  calcium  and  hydro- 
gen, and  tend  to  keep  the  colloidal  particles  of  the 
nerves  in  a  state  of  solution,  so  that  the  nerves  re- 
main inactive.  The  nerve-stimulating  ions  are  atoms 
of  such  substances  as  fluorine  and  chlorine,  which 
carry  charges  of  negative  electricity  and  cause  the 
nerve  particles  to  coalesce  or  become  jellied,  in 
which  condition  the  nerve  is  active,  the  degree  of 
activity  depending  upon  the  intensity  of  the  stimu- 
lation. Death  appears  to  be  the  result  of  the  stag- 
nation of  the  nerves,  and  this  discovery  may  en- 
able us  to  oppose  the  process  that  ends  in  death." 

This  throws  a  flood  of  light  on  other  obscure 
problems,  and  offers  an  explanation  of  the  effect 
of  anaesthetics  upon  the  human  body.  Anything 
that  tends  to  keep  the  nerve  particles  in  a  state  of 
solution  quiets  the  nerves.  Now,  nerve  particles  are 
largely  composed  of  fat,  and  anaesthetics  dissolve 


MAN  IS  A  SOUL  CLAD  IN  AIR  81 

fat.  Hence  anaesthetics  produce  the  effect  of  posi- 
tively electrified  ions,  preventing  the  nerve  parti- 
cles from  coalescing  and  thus  quiets  the  nerves. 
The  action  of  whiskey  in  arresting  the  progress  of 
snake  poison  is  explained.  The  alcohol  counteracts 
the  coagulating  tendency  and  keeps  the  nerves  in 
a  colloidal  condition.  It  explains  many  other  famil- 
iar facts,  as  why  heat  tends  to  quiet  the  nerves, 
and  that  chemical  stimulation  is  identical  with 
electrical  stimulation,  and  solves  the  long  standing 
puzzle  of  muscular  contractility. 

Dr.  H.  Preston  Pratt,  an  eminent  electro-thera- 
peutic expert,  says:  "Dr.  Loeb's  experiments  have 
demonstrated  that  electricity  is  life — that  the  en- 
tire human  organism  is  controlled  by  electrical 
forces.  The  twentieth  century  will  prove  electric- 
ity and  not  salt  is  the  real  life-giving  principle. 

"If  this  force  is  taken  away,  life  ends,  and,  in  the 
same  manner,  if  this  force  is  supplied  the  result  is 
the  immediate  stimulation  of  the  organic  life. 

"The  necessary  elements  of  life  are  taken  into 
the  body  through  the  air  and  food,  and  the  entrance 
of  the  essential  elements  into  the  blood  sets  the 
human  battery  into  operation,  and  it  continues  to 
operate  as  long  as  the  electrical  forces  are  sup- 
plied to  the  blood.  The  human  body  is  of  elements 
the  same  as  a  magnet  and  is  built  of  smaller  mag- 
nets or  molecules"  This  I  have  contended  for 
many  years.  He  continued:  "To  show  the  con- 
nection between  human  life  and  electricity,  take  an 
ordinary  battery  of  chloride  of  ammonia  or  salam- 
moniac  and  study  its  workings.  You  will  see  that 
by  the  introduction  of  the  element  zinc  the  electrical 
current  is  found.  The  zinc  is  of  positive  polarity 
6 


82  THE  UNIVERSE 

and  so  is  the  ammonia,  while  the  chloride  is  electro- 
negative. 

"The  electro-positive  zinc  has  greater  electric 
affinity  for  the  chlorine  than  the  ammonia  has,  and 
consequently  the  ammonia  is  driven  off  and  com- 
bined with  chlorine,  forming  chloride  of  zinc.  The 
result  is  the  difference  of  an  electric  pull  between  the 
elements. 

"All  admit  that  the  force  of  elements  forms  a 
part  of  the  anatomic  structure,  and  there  must  be 
electricity.  When  oxygen  is  taken  into  a  body  it 
excites  the  elements  in  the  same  manner  as  the 
negative  chlorine  attacks  the  zinc  in  the  battery. 
The  electrical  circuit  of  the  body  is  the  circulating 
blood,  and  when  the  oxygen  and  the  nitrogen  are 
taken  in  through  the  lungs  the  electro-negative 
ions  go  in  one  direction.  Sulphur  and  oxygen  are 
electro-negative  and  the  other  elements  of  the  blood 
are  electro-positive;  and  consequently,  when  the 
nitrogen  and  oxygen  of  the  air  attack  the  blood 
through  the  medium  of  the  air  cells,  we  find  that 
oxygen  and  sulphur  pass  in  one  direction,  while 
the  other  elements  which  are  electro-positive  pass 
in  the  opposite  direction.  This  action  is  electrolytic 
the  same  as  if  we  apply  a  battery  to  the  human 
body." 

All  this  accords  with  my  theory  of  electrical  crea- 
tion, and  proves,  as  I  have  contended  for  many 
years,  that  man's  body  as  well  as  the  universe  is  an 
electric  organism. 

In  my  book  "The  New  Cosmogony,"  published 
about  five  years  previous  to  these  discoveries,  I  laid 
down  the  broad  proposition  that  nature  or  the 
Creator  has  never  made  but  one  pattern  or  type 


MAN  IS  A  SOUL  CLAD  IN  AIR  83 

of  a  thing  that  exists,  and  that  is  the  electro-mag- 
netic. That  suns  and  worlds,  man  and  all  animal 
and  vegetable  organisms,  are  electro-magnets.  That 
electricity  was  physical  life,  and  digestion  and  assimi- 
lation of  food  were  purely  electrical  processes; 
while  the  five  senses — seeing,  hearing,  tasting,  smell- 
ing and  feeling — were  all  electrical  manifestations, 
seeing  and  hearing  being  a  form  of  wireless  teleg- 
raphy. 

That  the  electric  combination  of  positive  and 
negative  atoms  weaves  the  visible  structure  that 
envelops  the  soul.  The  electric  elements  from  the 
lungs  and  stomach  enter  into  the  blood,  and  set 
the  human  battery  in  organic  operation  and  create 
and  continue  human  life.  Thus  the  beginning  of 
life  is  an  electric  process,  and  the  source  of  life  is 
augmented  and  continued  by  absorbing  electric 
energy  from  the  air  we  breath,  from  the  food  we 
eat  and  water  we  drink,  and  not  by  the  so-called 
thermal  or  heat  digestive  process,  but  in  the  same 
way  as  we  extract  electricity  from  coal  and  wood 
— by  a  species  of  electric  transformation  or  com- 
bustion, like  feeding  a  flame  from  the  oxygen  of 
the  atmosphere. 

The  body  is  not  only  an  electric  machine  or  or- 
ganism, but  the  exercise  of  every  function  is  an 
electric  process.  And  the  derangement  of  any  func- 
tion, which  we  call  sickness  or  disease,  is  an  electric 
derangement.  Prof.  Loeb  and  Dr.  Mathews  have 
shown  how  the  body  is  woven  of  positive  and  nega- 
tive atoms. 

Prof.  Lucian  I.  Blake,  of  the  Kansas  University, 
in  his  lecture,  "  Atoms  and  Their  Electric  Charges," 
shows  how  medicine  affects  the  human  body  and 


84  THE  UNIVERSE 

how  life  could  be  started  in  an  unfertilized  egg  by 
inserting  an  electric  current.  This  was  done  by 
placing  the  white  of  the  egg  in  a  vessel  containing 
salt,  calcium  and  water,  and  turning  an  electric 
current  into  it.  Life  in  this  way  can  be  raised  to 
the  fourth  stage,  he  says. 

Another  interesting  experiment  was  a  comparison 
of  the  effect  of  electrical  charges  on  the  ferments  of 
human  blood,  yeast,  plant  and  platinum.  The  fer- 
ments mixed  with  water  were  placed  in  separate 
vessels,  when  the  ions  of  each  began  to  move  about, 
causing  bubbles  to  go  to  the  top  of  the  vessels. 
Ether  was  placed  in  the  different  vessels,  and  then 
a  few  drops  of  hydrocyanic  acid,  a  deadly  poison, 
were  added.  The  ether,  by  having  an  opposite  elec- 
trical effect  to  that  of  the  acid,  neutralized  its  effect. 

So,  in  the  case  of  all  poisons,  if  it  be  known  whether 
the  electrical  effect  is  negative  or  positive  to  that 
of  the  blood  ions,  an  ion  producing  an  opposite 
electrical  effect  will  counteract  the  poison.  Prof. 
Blake  says:  "The  reason  ether  prevents  the  pain 
of  operations  is  because  it  stops  the  coagulation 
of  the  nerves.  All  atoms  of  matter  are  charged 
with  electricity.  All  vital  actions  are  always  con- 
nected with  electricity.  All  drug  effects  are  brought 
about  by  electrical  charges  made  with  the  meetings 
of  the  ions  in  the  blood  and  those  in  the  medicine." 

How  strongly  does  Prof.  Blake  sustain  my  theory 
when  he  says,  "All  atoms  of  matter  are  charged 
with  electricity.  All  vital  actions  are  always  con- 
nected with  electricity."  He  also  shows  how  medi- 
cines affect  the  human  body,  how  antidotes  neu- 
tralize poison,  why  stimulants  arouse  electrical 
energy,  and  how  narcotics  stupify  and  deaden  it. 


MAN  IS  A  SOUL  CLAD  IN  AIR  85 

Electricity,  I  contend,  is  the  active,  energetic  and 
all-pervading  ultimate  force  in  nature,  controlled 
by  the  still  more  refined  and  ultimate  spiritual 
force.  It  is  the  medium  and  ever-active  agent  in 
evoking  all  visible  forms  and  substances ;  the  medium 
which  produces  all  affinities  and  repulsions  in  mat- 
ter, gyrating  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest  elements 
and  from  globe  to  globe,  and  constitutes  the  in- 
visible controlling  element  whose  results  are  known 
as  laws.  Electricity  is  the  guardian  and  executive 
of  the  invisible  laws  of  nature.  It  is  the  suspen- 
sion bridge  spanning  the  darkness  and  chaos  of 
space  between  suns  and  worlds. 

Man  is  the  product  of  the  perfect  unfolding  of 
nature's  invisible  electric  laws,  and  aggregate  atomic 
elements ;  and  unites  within  himself  all  the  elements 
and  forces  of  the  combined  and  harmonious  universe. 
He  is  an  epitome  of  the  universe  and  an  atom  of 
deity.  His  form,  like  all  visible  forms,  is  only  the 
temporal  combination  of  material  substances  woven 
by  invisible  electric  force  out  of  invisible  ether. 
The  thoughts  of  man's  mind  are  the  governing  force 
of  his  organism.  The  thoughts  of  the  Great  Crea- 
tive Mind  constitute  the  laws  of  nature  and  the 
controlling  force  in  the  electric  organism  of  the 
universe.  Man  is  a  Soul  clad  in  air. 

The  results  of  these  thoughts  of  deity  are  the 
vast  expanse  of  the  universe  and  varied  forms  of 
animate  and  inanimate  nature;  just  as  the  result 
of  man's  thoughts  are  the  varied  structures,  tem- 
ples and  works  of  art,  constructed  by  him  upon 
the  surface  of  the  earth.  All  things  man  creates 
are  the  representatives  of  his  thought,  the  outward 
expression  of  his  soul.  He  creates  nothing  but  what 


86  THE  UNIVERSE 

is  a  living  evidence  of  his  previous  thought  or  con- 
cept. All  things  tangible  are  the  living  evidence 
of  a  soul — the  invisible  soul  or  spirit  of  deity  and 
man.  All  material  things  are  the  forms  of  God's 
thoughts  or  man's  thoughts,  which  is  the  interior 
cause,  producing  tangible  effects.  For  the  natural 
world  is  the  spiritual  unfoldment  made  manifest  in 
matter  by  electric  energy.  But  I  must  not  consume 
space  by  a  repetition  of  these  things.  What  the 
world  wants  is  the  truth,  and  we  are  discovering 
it  at  a  very  rapid  rate.  And  if  these  theories  are 
not  the  truth  they  are  nearer  to  it  than  nine-tenths 
of  the  accepted  truths  of  science. 

The  ancients  knew  little  about  their  bodies,  or 
the  mysterious  operations  of  physical  life.  They 
looked  only  at  effects  and  the  outside  of  things, 
and  knew  nothing  of  the  invisible  forces  of  nature. 
They  regarded  all  the  mysteries  they  could  not 
understand  as  supernatural,  as  outside  of  nature, 
and  produced  by  demons,  wizards,  necromancers, 
or  their  imaginary  gods. 

Their  knowledge  of  their  bodies  was  as  limited  as 
their  knowledge  of  the  universe,  which  they  regarded 
as  a  little  span  of  flat  earth  and  bending  sky; 
and  they  relied  on  incantations  and  prayers  to 
restore  the  sick,  and  on  the  flight  of  birds  and  the 
entrails  of  beasts  to  reveal  the  mysteries  of  the 
future.  They  believed  in  obsession  and  deemed  all 
sick,  insane  and  diseased  persons  as  possessed  of 
demon  spirits  or  devils,  and  their  restoration  to 
health  or  their  right  minds  was  called  "the  casting 
out  of  devils." 

The  ancients  also  believed  every  evil  propensity 
was  the  prompting  of  some  demon  spirit  that  pos- 


MAN  IS  A  SOUL  CLAD  IN  AIR  87 

sessed  the  human  body,  and  that  there  was  as 
many  devils  as  there  were  evil  propensities.  Mary 
Magdalene  was  possessed  of  seven  devils,  and  the 
man  who  had  more  evil  propensities  than  they 
could  enumerate  was  said  to  possess  a  "legion  of 
devils." 

But  the  world  is  fast  outgrowing  the  ignorance 
and  superstition  of  the  past  and  this  is  a  fortu- 
nate and  happy  age  in  which  to  live.  This  is  pre- 
eminently the  age  of  electricity — of  mind  and  invisi- 
ble forces— as  the  past  century  was  an  age  of  mat- 
ter. The  whole  world  is  feeling  the  electric  thrill 
of  a  new  life.  New  voices  call  us,  new  inspirations 
are  in  the  air,  new  thoughts  crowd  upon  the  think- 
ing mind.  The  reasoning  soul  catches  whispers 
from  the  stars  and  celestial  benedictions  from  the 
radiance  of  the  sun.  Man  is  a  heaven-bound  spirit 
in  an  electric  body  woven  of  dust  and  air,  of  in- 
finite ether  and  eternal  atoms,  sifted  through  bound- 
less space,  and  tossed  from  suns  to  worlds;  and  he 
is  climbing  to  loftier  spiritual  heights  and  a  diviner 
atmosphere. 

The  great  men  of  the  past  had  false  ideals.  They 
were  the  ambitious  conquerors,  who  despoiled  their 
own  race  and  deluged  the  world  in  blood.  Their 
thrones  were  built  on  pyramids  of  human  skulls 
swimming  in  a  sea  of  human  blood  and  tears.  Their 
triumphal  march  was  heralded  by  the  clanking 
chains  of  miserable  captives,  and  the  wailing  cries 
of  widows  and  orphans.  For  many  ages  human 
slavery,  grinding  poverty  and  abject  misery  were 
the  common  heritage  of  the  despoiled  masses  who 
lived  in  hovels,  were  made  food  for  cannon,  or  were 
sold  into  bondage  for  debt,  while  a  few  fortunate 


88  THE  UNIVERSE 

rulers  reveled  in  luxury  and  swayed  despotic  power. 
Up  to  the  recent  centuries  the  chief  vocations  of 
men  were  the  soldier  and  the  priest — the  one  for 
slaughter  and  the  other  to  appease  the  gods. 

But  the  evolving  ages  have  changed  the  ideals  of 
the  world,  and  liberty  and  justice  are  no  longer  a 
dream;  but  " Peace  hath  her  victories  no  less  re- 
nowned than  war."  The  time  is  near  at  hand  when 
the  ideals  of  men  will  be  so  exalted  and  their  con- 
sciences so  alive  to  the  demands  of  love  and  jus- 
tice that  no  man  of  wealth  can  sleep  in  his  lux- 
urious home  or  feast  on  choice  viands  and  know 
of  any  human  creature  or  dumb  animal  suffering 
from  cold  and  want  without  first  ministering  to 
their  needs.  This  is  the  law  of  love  written  in  every 
enlightened  heart,  as  it  is  written  in  the  books  of 
the  New  Testament. 

Men  are  beginning  to  learn  that  the  greatest 
thing  in  this  world  is  not  wealth,  with  its  pomp 
and  pride,  though  it  may  bring  a  thousand  com- 
forts. It  is  not  religion,  with  its  glorious  dreams 
crowned  with  the  promised  beatitudes  of  heaven, 
though  martyred  saints  and  prophets  have  given 
their  lives  to  confirm  its  faith  and  hopes.  It  is 
not  literature,  with  its  gems  of  thought  and  flowers 
of  divine  fancy,  which  have  charmed  and  inspired 
mankind  from  the  days  of  Homer  to  those  of 
Shakespeare  and  Tennyson.  It  is  not  science,  with 
"learning's  ample  page,"  though  she  has  trans- 
formed the  earth,  and  produced  a  Gallileo  and  a 
Newton.  It  is  not  the  wonders  of  mechanical  gen- 
ius, though  we  stand  in  awe  before  their  marvels  of 
grandeur  and  utility.  It  is  not  the  beauty  of  in- 
spiring art  that  lifts  us  to  the  altitudes  of  aes- 


MAN  IS  A  SOUL  CLAD  IN  AIR  89 

thetic  joy.  These  are  but  the  ideals  and  mani- 
festations of  that  which  is  higher  and  greater, 
which  is  written  in  the  soul  of  man  as  in  a  book. 

Man  is  the  greatest  thing  in  this  world — ah  !  in  the 
universe  next  to  Deity.  He  is  the  offspring  of  Om- 
nipotence, the  Child  of  the  Sun,  the  inheritor  of  the 
universe.  All  suns  and  worlds,  all  life  and  space  are 
the  playgrounds  of  his  activities.  He  shall  dwell  in 
the  home  of  Deity,  stroll  in  the  garden  of  the  gods, 
bask  in  the  radiance  of  central  suns,  recline  on  the 
daffodil  meadows  and  wander  in  the  elysian  fields  of 
paradise.  He  is  at  home  in  the  measureless  expanse 
of  all  ether  and  space. 

Wherever  an  atom  vibrates  or  an  electric  current 
thrills,  there  he  is  the  monarch  of  spiritual  power, 
and  can  command  the  electric  force  that  tosses  suns 
upon  their  course  and  plays  football  with  the  stars. 
Man  is  no  worm  of  the  dust,  he  is  the  darling  of  the 
skies,  the  ruler  of  suns,  the  cherubim  of  celestial 
destiny  clad  in  terrestrial  ether  and  winged  with  the 
spiritual  power  of  Omnipotence. 

Who  nobly  does  must  nobly  think, 
The  soul  that  soars  can  never  sink, 
And  man's  a  strange  connecting  link 
Between  frail  dust  and  Deity. 


CHAPTER  VI 

ELECTRICAL   DERANGEMENT   OF   THE   BODILY   ORGAN- 
ISM  PRODUCES  SICKNESS  AND  DEATH 

I  CONTEND  that  man's  body  is  an  electric  machine 
or  organism,  and  electricity  is  its  vital  force  and 
governing  power,  and  all  sickness  is  caused  by  the 
electrical  derangement  of  the  bodily  organism.  Elec- 
tricity is  the  force  which  organized  the  body  ma- 
chine, which  runs  the  body  machine,  and  whose  loss 
or  deficiency  cripples  and  finally  destroys  it. 

Sickness  is  the  impairment  of  some  of  the  parts 
or  functions  of  the  body  by  reason  of  its  failure  to 
get  its  necessary  and  natural  supply  of  electrical 
energy.  This  may  be  caused  by  an  injury  to  some 
of  its  parts  or  by  lack  of  proper  air,  food  and  nu- 
trition containing  the  electric  properties  required. 
For  air  is  an  electric  element  from  the  life-giving 
sun,  and  vegetable  food  is  the  embalmed  rays  of 
the  sun,  and  animal  food  is  vegetable  food  em- 
balmed in  animal  organism  and  brought  one  step 
nearer  to  electrical  digestion,  and  both  air  and 
nutriment  are  necessary  to  supply  vital  electricity 
to  the  living  organism.  And  while  man  can  live 
without  food  forty  days,  he  cannot  live  without  air 
four  minutes.  The  great  force  and  power  which 
run  the  human  or  animal  machine  is  the  vitalizing 
air  we  breathe,  the  electric  atmosphere  in  which 
"we  live,  move  and  have  our  being."  It  is  as  much 


ELECTRICAL  DERANGEMENT  PRODUCES  DEATH     91 

a  substance  as  the  water  in  which  the  fish  swim, 
though  it  is  transparent  to  light,  while  water  is 
only  partially  so. 

The  lungs  are  the  great  electric  reservoirs  of  the 
body  and  take  the  electric  current  of  the  sun  from 
the  atmosphere  as  constantly  and  naturally  as  the 
electric  wire  takes  the  current  from  the  battery  or 
the  dynamo. 

Then  it  imparts  electric  energy  to  the  blood  and 
sends  it  as  an  electric  current  and  fluid  coursing 
through  every  part  of  the  body,  producing  vitaliz- 
ing life  and  growth,  causing  the  heart  valves  to  beat 
and  pump  with  marvelous  power,  the  pulse  to  throb, 
and  the  whole  machine  to  pulsate,  thrill  and  whir 
with  electric  life  and  energy. 

Flammarion  says  three-fourths  of  a  man's  life 
energy  and  nourishment  comes  from  the  air.  And 
Nicola  Tesla  says  the  time  may  come  when  man 
may  learn  to  live  on  air  alone,  as  do  some  kinds 
of  vegetable  and  animal  organisms.  Man  in  time 
may  learn  to  so  mix  the  elements  of  the  atmos- 
phere to  supply  the  needs  of  the  body,  that  he  may, 
by  breathing  it  into  his  lungs,  obtain  all  the  essen- 
tial elements  to  preserve  its  life  and  organism. 

The  oxygen  of  the  air  keeps  alive  the  fire  of  phys- 
ical life,  and  the  body  may  be  compared  to  a 
flame  fed  unceasingly  by  electric  fire  from  the  sun 
and  atmosphere,  according  to  the  laws  of  electric 
combustion.  The  want  of  oxygen  or  this  electric 
energy  from  the  air  extinguishes  the  flame  of  life 
as  it  extinguishes  the  flame  of  a  lamp. 

The  blood  could  not  course  through  the  veins 
with  such  marvelous  speed  if  it  were  not  for  the 
electric  energy  imparted  to  it  in  the  electric  reser- 


92  THE  UNIVERSE 

voir  of  the  lungs;  the  heart  valves  could  not  throb 
with  such  wonderful  force  or  the  pulse  keep  its 
steady,  unceasing  beat  but  for  the  electric  power 
imparted  by  the  wireless  electricity  of  the  air. 

Besides,  the  electricity  of  the  air  passes  through 
and  through  the  pores  of  the  body  at  every  point, 
giving  additional  life  and  force,  and  every  angle 
of  the  body  draws  electricity  like  the  point  of  a 
lightning  rod,  and  the  legs,  the  arms,  the  toes 
and  the  fingers  with  the  space  between  them,  con- 
stitute horseshoe  magnets  of  great  efficiency. 

A  man's  strength  and  endurance  is  measured  by 
the  electric  atmosphere  he  draws  into  his  lungs  and 
the  fuel  or  food  he  takes  into  his  stomach  or  boiler. 
A  .man's  stomach  bears  a  similar  relation  to  the 
body  that  the  boiler  and  furnace  does  to  the  machine, 
and  should  be  treated  in  very  much  the  same  way. 
It  should  receive  only  the  fuel  necessary  to  its  useful- 
ness, and  the  ashes  and  debris  should  be  cleaned 
out  every  morning  before  building  a  fresh  fire,  as 
is  done  with  every  well  kept  furnace.  The  lungs  take 
in  pure  electricity  from  the  air,  while  the  stomach 
takes  in  compound  electric  elements,  vegetable  and 
animal,  and  converts  them  by  the  electric  process 
of  digestion  and  assimilation  into  blood  and  bone, 
nerves  and  tissue,  and  the  two  functions  give  vital- 
ity and  growth  to  the  whole  body. 

But  the  electric  and  controlling  center  of  the 
bodily  machine  is  the  electric  dynamo  of  the  brain, 
to  which  is  attached  the  spinal  column  with  its 
nerve  branches  reaching  out  to  all  parts  of  the 
body,  along  which,  as  on  connecting  wires,  the  brain 
telegraphs  its  wish  and  will  and  governs  the  whole 
organism.  Here  the  mind  or  soul  dominates  the 


ELECTRICAL  DERANGEMENT  PRODUCES  DEATH     93 

brain  and  the  brain  dynamo  dominates  and  con- 
trols the  body.  Through  all  the  vicissitudes  of 
life,  until  the  final  dissolution  of  the  body,  the  tele- 
grams from  the  brain, running  along  the  wires  of  the 
nerves  control  the  muscles,  the  movements  and  all 
the  varied  utilities  of  the  body.  In  other  words,  the 
mind  controls  the  electricity  of  the  brain,  and  the 
electricity  of  the  brain  controls  the  body. 

If  you  cut  a  nerve  or  obstruct  the  electric  cur- 
rent, you  cut  oif  the  electric  control  of  the  brain, 
and  there  is  paralysis  in  the  part  of  the  body  where 
the  electric  wires  are  disconnected.  Consumption 
is  a  disease  caused  by  a  failure  of  the  lungs  to 
draw  sufficient  electricity  from  the  air  to  supply  the 
normal  needs  of  the  body.  For  lack  of  this  electric 
energy  the  whole  system  becomes  enfeebled  and 
finally  dissolved.  Indigestion  is  a  failure  of  the 
stomach  to  supply  the  necessary  electric  energy 
to  assimilate  the  food.  And  all  sickness,  aches 
and  pains  are  nature  crying  for  electric  energy  neces- 
sary for  her  to  fulfill  her  natural  offices  and  func- 
tions. 

Dr.  Jacques  Loeb,  of  the  Chicago  University,  an- 
nounced on  February  22nd,  1903,  that  he  had  dis- 
covered that  muscular  and  nervous  diseases,  such 
as  St.  Vitus'  dance,  paralysis,  agitatus,  locomotor 
ataxia  and  sleeplessness,  can  be  cured  by  adminis- 
tering calcium  salts  because  of  their  electrical 
effects. 

He  says  the  presence  of  calcium  salts  in  the  mus- 
cles prevents  their  twitching;  that  practically  all 
nervous  disease  are  caused  by  the  absence  of  the 
calcium,  and  "  therefore  to  restore  normal  condi- 
tions and  effect  a  cure  a  dose  of  calcium  salts  should 


94,  THE  UNIVERSE 

be  administered  for  its  electrical  effects  upon  the 
parts  affected." 

In  recent  years  many  persons  have  been  restored 
to  health  and  strength  by  the  direct  use  of  electric 
currents,  and  many  diseases  have  been  cured  by 
electric  appliances 

The  necessity  -for  an  ample  supply  of  electricity, 
both  positive  and  negative,  to  sustain  and  preserve 
the  life  of  the  bodily  machine  is  now  acknowledged 
by  all  thinking  scientists. 

We  have  seen  how  different  kinds  of  medicine,  by 
furnishing  the  positive  or  negative  molecules  needed 
by  the  body,  restore  the  natural  equilibrium  and 
preserve  life  and  health,  and  how  the  failure  to 
obtain  these  needed  electrical  supplies  of  life-giving 
energy,  either  by  food  or  medicine,  results  in  disease 
and  death.  We  have  seen  how  toxic  and  varied 
poisons  have  their  antidotes  in  opposite  electrical 
elements  and  molecules,  and  how  stimulants  excite 
and  opiates  quiet  the  electric  energy  of  the  body, 
and  it  is  unnecessary  to  dwell  longer  on  this  sub- 
ject. The  fact  that  all  sickness  and  death  is  caused 
by  the  electrical  derangement  of  the  body  I  think 
is  now  so  clearly  proven  and  so  generally  accepted, 
that  detail  and  extended  argument  is  unnecessary. 

To  show  that  electricity  builds  up  the  body.  Even 
at  this  late  period  in  the  world's  history  there  are 
instances  of  nature  returning  to  her  primitive  elec- 
tric crystalline  process  even  to  the  extent  of  convert- 
ing man's  body  into  stone.  Four  recent  cases  are 
reported  in  the  medical  records  of  man's  flesh  grad- 
ually turning  to  stone.  One  case  is  reported  from 
North  Judson,  Indiana,  where  Eli  Green  is  turning 
to  stone.  His  muscles,  skin  and  flesh  are  gradually 


ELECTRICAL  DERANGEMENT  PRODUCES  DEATH     95 

becoming  as  hard  as  the  bones  of  his  framework.  To 
the  touch  he  is  dead.  Only  the  feeble  action  of  heart, 
lungs  and  stomach  and  a  fertile  and  active  mind 
give  evidence  that  there  is  any  life  in  him  whatever. 

The  physicians  declare  he  is  afflicted  with  a 
disease  that  runs  its  course  in  seven  years;  not  a 
day  more  or  less.  Green  has  already  dragged  out 
his  existence  over  four  of  these  years ;  only  three  of 
his  short  span  of  life  remain. 

There  is  a  similar  case  reported  of  Miss  Stella 
Ewing,  the  ossified  woman  of  Rome,  New  York, 
and  one  from  Sydney,  Australia,  where  Jacques 
Moritz  was  afflicted  with  the  same  terrible  malady. 
Eight  years  ago  Moritz  was  seized  with  sickness 
that  baffled  every  effort  by  the  physicians  to  re- 
lieve it.  From  the  patient's  feet  a  numbness  began 
to  creep  upward.  That  was  the  first  sign  of  the 
disease.  The  numbness  steadily  ascended,  and  seven 
years  from  the  day  the  malady  first  displayed  it- 
self the  sickness  had  eaten  its  way  into  the  pa- 
tient's brain  and  had  hardened  it  into  stone  exactly 
as  it  had  hardened  the  muscles,  flesh  and  skin  of 
his  body.  Then  death  relieved  the  sufferer.  There 
are  several  recent  cases  of  a  similar  kind  just  re- 
ported in  the  newspapers. 

This  shows  how  easily  nature  can  go  back  to  her 
primitive  electric  process  and  in  the  crystalline  for- 
mations resume  her  first  step  in  world  building.  And 
humanity  is  not  entirely  free  from  an  occasional 
freak  of  nature  in  thus  returning  to  her  first  proc- 
esses of  electric  growth. 

Electricity  teaches  there  is  no  death  or  need  of  a 
resurrection.  That  which  lived  never  dies. 

Electricity  demonstrates  the  resurrection  not    of 


96  THE  UNIVERSE 

the  physical  body,  but  rather  the  continued  ex- 
istence of  the  real  body,  which  is  the  electrical  and 
spiritual  body.  Electricity  proves  there  is  no  death. 
I  believe  man  has  three  bodies — first,  the  physical 
body,  or  organic  aggregation  of  atoms;  second, 
the  invisible  electric  body,  which  weaves  and  or- 
ganizes the  atomic  body,  sometimes  called  the  astral 
body;  and  third,  the  real  man,  the  spiritual  body  or 
soul,  which  controls  the  atomic  body  by  means  of 
the  electric  body.  These  constitute  one  perfect  or- 
ganism, and  in  normal  health  and  condition  it  is 
under  the  almost  perfect  control  of  the  mind  or  spir- 
itual body,  which  sends  forth  its  behest  through 
the  electric  energy  of  the  brain,  which  is  the  seat  of 
power  having  charge  of  the  electric  and  atomic 
body. 

Death  is  the  separation  of  the  physical  and  spir- 
itual bodies.  The  physical  body  goes  into  the  grave 
and  dissolves  back  into  its  natural  elements.  It 
fertilizes  the  soil  and  appears  again  in  grass  and 
tree  and  shrub,  and  the  cattle  eat  it,  and  men  eat 
the  cattle,  and  its  molecules  enter  again  into  other 
bodies. 

But  there  is  no  resurrection  for  the  physical  body; 
it  never  comes  out  of  the  grave  in  organic  form. 
The  spiritual  and  electric  bodies  never  die,  never 
go  into  the  grave.  This  is  the  true  resurrection — 
the  life  everlasting.  It  is  the  invisible  and  secondary 
form  which  does  not  die,  cannot  die,  and  when  once 
formed  is  as  eternal  as  the  stars. 

The  spiritual  body  and  the  electric  form  which 
surrounds  it  are  incorruptible  and  start  on  their 
journey  of  endless  existence  together,  never  to  be 
separated  or  destroyed. 


ELECTRICAL  DERANGEMENT  PRODUCES  DEATH     97 

Matter  in  its  elemental  form  is  invisible  and  eter- 
nal; electricity  and  spirit  are  invisible  and  eternal. 
Thus  when  the  real  man  throws  off  his  overcoat  of 
atoms  and  steps  out  of  this  "mortal  coil,"  he  is 
free  from  the  limitations  of  matter  and  can  com- 
mand the  electric  energy  to  go  where  destiny  points 
and  draws  him,  which  is  to  the  electric  and  spiritual 
center  of  our  planetary  system,  the  self-luminous  and 
perfected  world,  the  all-life-giving  sun. 

The  oxygen  of  the  air  keeps  alive  the  fire  of  physi- 
cal life,  and  the  body  may  be  compared  to  a  flame 
being  fed  unceasingly  according  to  the  laws  of  com- 
bustion. A  want  of  oxygen  extinguishes  the  flame 
of  life  as  it  extinguishes  the  flame  of  a  lamp. 

It  is  said  a  human  being  dies  every  second.  In 
ten  thousand  years,  two  hundred  thousand  mil- 
lions of  human  bodies  have  been  formed  by  means 
of  respiration  and  alimentation  from  the  earth  and 
atmosphere,  and  have  returned  to  them  again. 
They  have  enriched  the  earth  and  entered  again 
into  atmospheric  circulation. 

The  earth  is  to-day  formed  in  part  of  the  myriads 
of  brains  which  have  thought  and  organisms  which 
have  lived.  We  walk  over  our  ancestors  as  those 
who  come  after  us  will  walk  over  us.  It  would  be 
difficult  to  take  a  step  upon  the  planet  without 
walking  over  the  remains  of  the  dead,  or  to  eat  or 
drink  without  reabsorbing  what  has  been  eaten  and 
drank  a  thousand  times  before,  or  to  breathe  with- 
out using  the  same  air  already  many  times  used  by 
the  dead. 

But  this  is  not  all  there  is  of  humanity.  All  the 
souls  that  have  lived  still  exist.  Souls  are  the  seed 
of  terrestrial  population.  We  have  no  reason  to 
7 


98  THE  UNIVERSE 

affirm  that  man  is  formed  solely  of  material  atoms 
and  that  the  faculty  of  thinking  is  only  a  property 
of  his  organization.  This  is  the  mistake  of  the  one- 
sided physicist.  When  we  analyze  matter  we  find 
everywhere  the  invisible  atom.  Matter  disappears 
like  smoke  in  the  atmosphere. 

Our  bodies  at  death  gradually  disappear  in  the 
same  way.  If  our  eyes  had  power  to  see  the  reality 
of  things  they  would  look  through  walls  formed  of 
separate  molecules,  through  seemingly  solid  bodies, 
which  are  atomic  vortices.  It  is  with  the  eye  of  the 
spirit  that  we  must  see.  We  cannot  trust  to  the  sole 
testimony  of  our  senses.  There  are  as  many  stars 
above  our  head  in  the  daytime  as  at  night. 

Nature  knows  neither  astronomy,  physics  nor  chem- 
istry; these  are  subjective  methods  of  study.  All 
things  are  one — the  infinitely  great  and  the  infinitely 
small.  Stars  and  atoms  are  as  one. 

"To  speak  with  exactness,"  says  Flammarion, 
"solidity  does  not  exist.  A  heavy  ball  of  iron  is 
composed  of  atoms  which  do  not  touch  each  other; 
its  apparent  solidity  is  pure  illusion.  In  scientific 
analysis  it  is  a  cloud  of  gnats  like  those  that  hover 
in  the  air  at  twilight.  Heat  this  ball  which  seems 
so  solid  and  it  will  flow  like  water;  heat  it  still 
more,  it  will  evaporate  into  invisible  space  without 
changing  its  nature.  It  will  always  continue  to  be 
iron.  In  a  house,  its  walls,  floors,  carpets  and  furni- 
ture are  composed  of  molecules  which  do  not  touch 
each  other.  And  these  molecules  which  constitute 
all  matter  revolve  around  each  other." 

It  is  the  same  thing  with  our  bodies.  They  are 
composed  of  molecules  perpetually  rotating  around 
each  other,  like  a  flame,  constantly  consuming  and 


ELECTRICAL  DERANGEMENT  PRODUCES  DEATH     99 

constantly  renewing  itself.  It  is  like  a  river  on  whose 
banks  we  sit  and  fancy  we  see  the  same  water  flowing 
past,  but  the  current  renews  each  drop  perpetually. 

Each  globule  of  our  blood  is  a  miniature  world, 
and  we  have  five  million  in  "the  fraction  of  a  cubic 
inch,  flowing  incessantly  through  our  arteries,  flesh 
and  brain,  rushing  in  a  vortex  of  life,  as  rapid 
relatively  as  that  of  the  celestial  bodies,  and  con- 
tinually renewing  the  molecules  of  our  heart,  brain, 
eyes,  nerves  and  flesh,  and  every  atom  of  our  bodily 
organism.  And  this  so  rapidly  that  in  a  few  months 
our  body  is  entirely  reconstructed.  Electricity,  the 
right  hand  of  Deity,  does  all  this  and  sustains  the 
earth,  the  sun  and  stars  of  the  universe  in  infinite 
space.  That  which  gives  man  his  organism  is  not 
his  material  part;  it  is  vital,  invisible,  electric  force, 
and  mental  power.  The  body  disintegrates  all  at 
once  after  death,  as  it  disintegrates  slowly,  renew- 
ing itself  perpetually,  during  life. 

In  the  future  there  will  be  no  fearful  apprehension 
that  the  coal  deposits  of  the  world  will  be  exhausted. 
The  waters  that  now  run  to  waste,  the  ever  moving 
tides  of  the  restless  sea,  the  swift  wings  of  the  un- 
used winds  that  sweep  through  the  tides  of  the  at- 
mosphere will  be  harnessed  to  the  car  of  human 
progress,  and  furnish  all  the  energy  needed  to  supply 
the  vast  activities  of  the  world. 

The  concentrated  heating  power,  latent  in  every 
sunbeam,  and  the  combustible  gases  hidden  in  every 
drop  of  water  will  be  supplemental  sources  of  bound- 
less energy  for  all  ages  on  this  wonderful  magnetic 
planet.  All  sickness  and  ailments  of  the  body  are 
the  result  of  the  derangement  of  the  electricity  of 
the  body,  for  which  there  is  a  remedy. 


100  THE  UNIVERSE 

The  art  of  longevity  will  be  restored  to  the  human 
race  by  supplying  the  electric  energy  necessary  to 
maintain  its  growth  and  vigor,  renew  its  wasted 
tissue  and  preserve  its  organic  power.  Then  the 
age  of  Methuselah  may  come  again  in  longevity, 
and  the  centenarian  be  in  the  boyhood  of  his  race. 
Man  will  eat  less,  enjoy  more,  and  get  a  thousand- 
fold more  pleasure  out  of  life,  and  be  better  pre- 
pared for  his  swift  translation  to  the  celestial  cities 
of  the  sun. 

In  the  future  he  may  not  eat  eleven  hundred  meals 
per  annum,  but  a  few  mouthfuls  of  concentrated 
food  daily  and  an  electric  supply  attachment  ad- 
justed to  his  body  during  sleeping  hours  may  re- 
new and  rejuvenate  his  electric  organism.  It  may 
be  that  in  the  future  every  residence  will  contain 
a  chamber  supplied  with  air  and  gases  containing 
all  the  elements  of  the  body  so  adjusted  as  to 
give  it  continual  life  and  vigor  by  merely  breathing 
in  its  life-giving  elements  a  few  hours  each  day. 
All  these  things  are  possible. 

Then  there  will  be  light  and  refreshing  work  of  a 
few  hours  daily — no  real  toil  or  labor — for  the  elec- 
tric devices  and  pliable  machinery,  subject  to  the 
will  of  man  and  the  electric  button,  will  do  the 
work  of  the  world.  Then  the  soul  will  be  paramount 
and  soar  above  the  grosser  appetites  and  passions 
to  gather  celestial  joys  in  the  spirit  realm  of  earth's 
diviner  life. 

This  is  pre-eminently  the  age  of  mind  and  invisi- 
ble forces,  as  the  past  century  was  the  age  of  mat- 
ter. Francis  Grierson  says  :  "So  far  as  we  know, 
electricity  is  the  soul  of  form.  What  we  call  brain 
waves  have  an  analogy  to  electric  waves.  We  are 


ELECTRICAL  DERANGEMENT  PRODUCES  DEATH  101 

being  ruled  by  the  seemingly  impossible,  and  the 
most  successful  inventors  of  the  present  day  would 
have  passed  for  madmen  twenty  years  ago.  The 
so-called  dreamers  are  now  the  men  of  action  who 
have  proven  their  power  and  competence,  and  think- 
ing people  turn  to  them  for  moie  miracles  of  dis- 
covery and  invention.  The  day  is  not  far  distant 
when  science  of  the  mind  will  treat  material  science 
as  a  plaything,  and  the  psychic  power  of  intellect 
will  kill  Mammon  like  the  stroke  of  an  electric  bolt, 
and  brute  power  will  succumb  to  soul  force.  The 
thinkers  of  to-day  are  as  far  removed  from  the 
thinkers  of  1870  as  electricity  is  from  steam.  We 
know  steam  is  a  crude  and  clumsy  thing  compared 
with  electricity,  and  to-morrow  we  shall  awake  to 
the  fact  that  mind  is  just  as  superior  to  the  crude 
electric  current." 

One  of  the  strong  desires  of  mankind  is  a  long 
life  with  a  cheerful,  vigorous  old  age.  This  may  be 
obtained  by  supplying  the  necessary  electrical  energy 
either  in  proper  food,  or  by  a  direct  supply  of  elec- 
tricity. This  will  prevent  the  hardening  of  the 
cellular  tissues  which  produces  the  decrepitude  of 
old  age,  and  help  to  bless  and  lengthen  human  life. 

With  the  divine  powers  of  mind  and  electricity 
working  for  man  the  millennium  of  a  long  life  and 
happiness  will  soon  arrive. 


CHAPTER  VII 

ALL  LIGHT,   HEAT  AND   LIFE  IS  EVOLVED  ONLY  IN 
THE  ATMOSPHERE  OP  SUNS  AND  PLANETS 

I  CONTEND  there  is  no  light,  heat  or  physical  life 
except  in  the  magnetic  atmosphere  of  suns  and 
planets.  That  only  in  this  marvelous  electric  belt 
which  surrounds  the  earth,  sun  and  planets  is  light, 
heat  and  life  evolved,  for  there  alone  is  it  needed 
for  animal  and  vegetable  life. 

There  is  neither  light,  heat  nor  physical  life  in  space. 
Physical  life  cannot  exist  in  the  cold,  dark  ether  of 
space,  and  without  life,  light  and  heat  would  be 
not  only  useless,  but  as  both  are  sensations  of 
physical  organisms  they  could  have  no  existence 
whatever.  They  only  exist  as  sensations  caused  by 
electric  currents  passing  either  to  or  through  or- 
ganic bodies.  Where  those  organic  bodies  do  not 
exist  light  and  heat  do  not  exist,  for  nature  does 
no  useless,  nugatory  things. 

No  physical  life  can  be  evolved  or  exist,  except  in 
the  electric  atmosphere  of  suns  and  planets  where  the 
life-giving  electric  currents  meet  and  exert  their 
power,  and  then  only  by  drawing  that  life  as  an 
electric  current  from  the  sun  constantly  into  the 
lungs  every  minute.  In  this  way  only  is  life  and 
growth  generated  and  all  physical  organisms  created 
and  continued  in  existence. 

Thus  all  life  is  preserved  and  renewed  by  drawing 


LIGHT,  HEAT  AND  LIFE:  HOW  EVOLVED          103 

the  wireless  electricity  from  the  air  just  as  the  elec- 
tric wire  takes  it  from  the  dynamo.  The  vital  por- 
tion of  the  air  we  draw  into  the  electric  reservoir 
of  our  lungs  is  simply  our  daily  life  drawn  each  day 
from  the  life-giving  sun.  This  life  and  all  that 
exist  on  earth  or  planets  could  not  co'me  from  a 
burning  globe  or  a  molten  sun.  It  is  a  superla- 
tive absurdity  to  think  so. 

Light,  heat  and  life  are  the  products  of  electric 
energy,  which  is  only  called  into  existence  by  the 
contact  of  positive  and  negative  electricity  in  na- 
ture's chosen  medium — the  atmospheric  environment 
of  suns,  planets  and  their  satellites.  This  is  nature's 
chosen  theatre  for  animal  and  vegetable  life.  There 
is  no  reason  or  necessity  for  light,  heat  or  animal 
and  vegetable  life  elsewhere  in  the  universe. 

Here  upon  the  surface  of  suns  and  planets  are 
the  mighty  and  varied  currents  of  electric  power 
and  magnetic  force,  weaving  forms  and  substance 
from  invisible  atoms  and  molecules,  under  the  laws 
of  electric  attraction  and  organic  affinity.  In  the 
economy  of  nature  there  are  no  wasted  energies, 
or  useless  activities.  Light,  heat  and  physical  life 
in  space  or  transparent  ether  would  be  useless  and 
nugatory ;  therefore  nature  ignores  such  folly  in  all 
her  fruitful  processes. 

There  may  be  reflected  light,  or  a  fluorescent  glow, 
as  in  the  tail  of  a  comet  or  in  the  nebula  of  frigid 
space,  but  nothing  we  can  truly  call  either  heat  or 
light  can  be  evolved  outside  of  the  atmospheric 
sheet  surrounding  and  penetrating  the  surface  of 
suns,  planets  and  satellites. 

We  walk  on  the  surface  of  a  revolving  magnet 
and  dynamo  more  perfect  in  measureless  power  and 


104  THE  UNIVERSE 

efficiency  than  any  man  has  ever  invented  or 
dreamed  of,  and  it  generates  the  power  which  makes 
light,  heat  and  life  in  its  own  electric  environment, 
where  all  things  "live,  move  and  have  their  being." 
It  does  not  get  light  and  heat  from  the  sun;  it 
gets  electric  currents  with  which  it  manufactures 
light  and  heat. 

Prof.  Richard  Proctor  says  :  "Profs.  Bond  and 
Zollner  calculated  that  Jupiter  sends  forth  more 
light  than  he  receives  from  the  sun,"  and  he  con- 
cludes that,  "if  this  be  true,  Jupiter  must  be  par- 
tially self-luminous  and  shines  in  part  by  his  own 


This  sustains  my  position  that  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  "borrowed  light  from  the  sun,"  any  more 
than  borrowed  heat  from  the  sun.  There  are  cur- 
rents of  electricity  from  the  sun  which  burst  into 
light  and  heat  on  the  earth  and  planets  when  they 
come  in  contact  with  their  opposite  electricity. 

But  each  globe  in  space  evolves  its  own  light  and 
heat  in  its  own  environing  atmosphere.  If  Jupiter 
shines  by  its  own  light,  then  the  earth  and  planets 
all  shine  by  their  own  light,  the  sun  furnishing  the 
electric  power  to  enable  them  to  do  so.  I  think  our 
moon  is  no  exception.  It  evolves  the  mild  silvery 
light  it  displays  in  our  midnight  skies  from  its  own 
attenuated  atmosphere,  but  displays  it,  like  the 
planets,  only  on  the  side  exposed  to  the  direct  rays 
of  the  sun.  The  greater  and  denser  parts  of  the 
moon's  atmosphere  is  in  the  deep  and  numerous 
cavities  of  its  torn  and  rugged  volcanic  surface. 
All  planets  and  satellites  shine  by  the  light  evolved 
in  their  own  atmosphere. 

I  contend  that  no  reliance  can  be  placed  in  the 


LIGHT,  HEAT  AND  LIFE:  HOW  EVOLVED          105 

spectroscopic  evidence  of  heat  in  the  sun,  or  any 
distant  globe.  This  ought  to  be  apparent  when  all 
light  and  heat  rays  can  only  be  translated  into 
photography  as  a  picture  evolved  in  our  own  at- 
mosphere. What  we  see  are  the  electric  colors  in  the 
atmosphere  of  a  distant  sun  or  planet. 

The  spectroscope  simply  photographs  the  colors  of 
the  elements  in  solution  composing  the  atmosphere, 
just  as  we  photograph  the  rich  colors  of  a  glowing 
sunset  or  a  gorgeous  rainbow.  The  evidence  of  the 
spectroscope  as  to  heat  has  been  greatly  exaggerated 
and  overestimated  by  the  scientists,  for  it  can  give 
no  evidence  of  heat.  An  astronomer  standing  on 
the  moon  and  examining  our  gorgeous,  glowing, 
crimson  sunsets  or  aurora  through  a  spectroscope 
would  declare  our  earth  was  a  blazing  ball  of  fire. 
It  would  seem  so  to  him,  and  he  would  have  just 
as  strong  evidence  as  our  astronomers  have  that 
the  sun  is  hot  or  a  ball  of  fire.  Our  astronomers 
look  at  the  brilliant  colors  of  the  sun's  aurora  and 
make  the  same  mistake. 

All  the  astronomers  admit  the  truth  of  Prof. 
Proctor's  statement — that  "the  heat-giving  power  of 
a  star  is  not  proportional  to  the  amount  of  light 
it  emits."  I  ask  why?  And  the  answer  is  very  plain  : 
Because  the  stars  and  suns  have  no  excessive  heat 
and  never  had.  Recent  facts  prove  the  sun  is  not 
hot.  Prof.  C.  G.  Abbott  of  the  Smithsonian  Insti- 
tute, in  his  observations  on  the  sun's  eclipse  on  May 
28th,  1900,  says  in  his  report :  "My  experiments 
showed  the  corona  of  the  sun  was  actually  cooler 
than  the  gray  card  which  had  been  used  at  the 
room  temperature." 

What  our  astronomers  have  taken  for   fire    and 


106  THE  UNIVERSE 

evidences  of  heat  is  the  rich  and  glowing  rainbow 
colors  of  the  outer  atmosphere  of  the  sun,  pro- 
duced by  infinitesimal  atoms  of  the  different  metals 
and  substances  of  the  sun  floating  in  solution  in 
its  brilliant  aurora,  just  as  the  elements  of  the 
earth  float  in  solution  in  our  gorgeous  sunsets. 
The  sun  having  a  larger  surplus  of  electricity  than 
the  earth  is  thereby  enabled  to  extend  its  vast 
aurora,  from  the  equator  to  the  poles,  and  this 
gives  continuous,  varied  and  beautiful  light,  with 
no  darkness  to  its  celestial  inhabitants.  But  the 
earth,  lacking  a  sufficient  surplus  of  electricity  to 
extend  its  aurora  from  the  equator  to  the  poles, 
must  content  itself  by  displaying  its  brilliant  light 
and  beauty  near  its  poles,  only  occasionally  ex- 
tending it  half  way  to  the  equator.  The  fact  that 
the  earth  creates  its  own  aurora  shows  it  manu- 
factures its  own  light.  Every  flash  of  lightning  in 
our  midnight  sky,  every  blazing  meteor  in  our  at- 
mosphere, prove  the  earth  and  planets  evolve  their 
own  light  and  heat. 

I  agree  with  Prof.  Proctor,  when  he  says  :  "I  adopt 
the  principle  of  Sir  William  Herschell  that  analogy 
is  the  chief  and  the  best  guide  for  the  student  of 
astronomy.  General  resemblance  of  structure  indi- 
cates a  general  resemblance  in  the  purpose  which  the 
celestial  bodies  are  intended  to  subserve."  And  I 
contend  that  all  or  nearly  all  suns  and  planets  are 
alike  in  structure  and  in  substance,  and  are  vast 
inhabited  worlds,  governed  by  the  same  laws,  con- 
trolled by  the  same  electric  energy,  and  possessing 
varied  types  of  vegetable,  animal  and  intellectual 
creations  similar  to  our  earth. 

It  is    a   universal  law   of  nature   that   wherever 


LIGHT,  HEAT  AND  LIFE :  HOW  EVOLVED          107 

great  electric  power  is  conferred  there  are  creations 
and  results  commensurate  with  that  power. 

Prof.  Garrett  P.  Serviss,  in  the  New  York  Journal, 
July  24th,  1901,  predicted  we  would  have  four 
years  of  excessive  heat  on  account  of  the  dark 
spots  on  the  sun,  and  many  other  scientists  agreed 
with  him.  He  said  :  "The  earth  is  a  satellite  of  a 
variable  star.  The  source  of  terrible  heat  is  directly 
in  the  sun  and  due  to  an  extraordinary  increase  in 
its  effective  radiation.  The  periodic  sunspot  has 
thrown  open  the  furnace  door  and  sent  forth  the 
destroying  blast  which  will  continue  for  four 
years." 

I  undertook  to  answer  him  and  contended  that 
the  sun  is  not  variable  in  its  heating  power,  and 
furnishes  no  more  heating  power  to  the  earth  at 
one  time  than  another.  That  there  is  no  increase 
in  its  effective  radiation.  That  the  sun  does  not 
furnish  heat  to  the  earth  at  all,  and  is  not  a  ther- 
mal or  heating  engine  as  claimed  by  the  scientists, 
but  is  an  electric  generator  like  the  earth  and  does 
not  need  to  be  hot.  That  the  sun  furnishes  the 
electric  power  and  the  earth  heats  itself.  In  other 
words,  the  sun  furnishes  powerful  currents  of  elec- 
tricity which  come  in  contact  with  the  earth's  op- 
posite electricity  and  the  resistance  of  its  atmos- 
phere, and  which  are  converted  into  light,  heat  and 
vital  force  down  near  the  earth's  surface. 

The  electric  power  furnished  by  the  sun  does  not 
vary,  but  is  measured  by  the  attracting  power  of 
the  earth  as  a  vast  magnet.  Therefore  all  excess  of 
heat  is  due  to  local  causes  and  the  uneven  distri- 
bution of  the  sun's  electric  current  on  the  earth's 
surface.  This  unequal  distribution  of  sun  currents, 


108  THE  UNIVERSE 

causing  excessive  heat  in  the  west,  was  produced 
by  light  rainfall  during  the  previous  year,  and  the 
harvesting  of  large  areas  in  Kansas,  Missouri  and 
adjacent  territories,  thus  exposing  a  dry  soil  and 
preventing  the  accumulation  of  moisture  necessary 
to  form  clouds.  The  succeeding  summers  justified 
my  position  and  refuted  the  predictions  of  the 
learned  professor  and  other  scientists. 

In  mentioning  these  things  I  mean  no  disparage- 
ment to  Prof.  Serviss,  whom  I  hold  in  high  esteem, 
and  only  find  fault  with  the  old  traditions  which 
he  upholds. 

I  am  a  friend  to  all  scientists  and  regard  them  as 
earnest  workers  seeking  the  truth.  But  they  follow 
accepted  and  antiquated  authority  too  closely,  and 
thus  "the  blind  lead  the  blind."  They  are  too  often 
one-sided  and  impracticable.  Men  who  study  apes 
and  beetles  or  atoms  and  gases  all  their  lives  are 
no  judges  of  angel's  faces  or  of  the  scope  and  de- 
sign of  the  universe.  Prof.  Proctor's  testimony 
that  "nine- tenths  of  the  astronomers  employ  their 
powers  in  making  observations  at  great  pains  and 
labor  which  are  not  worth  the  paper  on  which  they 
are  recorded,"  is  a  plain  statement  of  their  tendency 
to  be  cranky  and  impracticable. 

Some  are  so  one-sided  they  think  mathematics  is 
everything.  Mathematics  in  its  place,  like  the  miser, 
is  good  to  count  gains  after  they  are  acquired ;  but 
had  man  relied  on  mathematics  he  would  have  re- 
mained as  ignorant  of  the  fundamental  truths  of 
the  universe  as  the  Blackfoot  Indians.  Newton 
owed  none  of  his  discoveries  to  mathematics.  When 
his  constructive  imagination  formulated  a  theory 
he  tried  to  bolster  it  up  with  mathematics.  But 


LIGHT,  HEAT  AND  LIFE:  HOW  EVOLVED          109 

it  generally  proved  as  delusive  as  did  his  calcula- 
tion that  the  sun  was  1,669,300  degrees  hot. 

The  great  boast  of  the  mathematicians  is  that  Le 
Verrier  calculated  where  Neptune  was  before  it  was 
discovered  by  Galle  at  Berlin,  but  the  fact  is  he 
missed  it  eight  astronomical  units  or  over  seven 
hundred  millions  of  miles,  and  said  Neptune  was 
not  the  planet  he  was  looking  for. 

These  are  two  average  tests  of  mathematical 
calculations,  and  they  are  on  a  par  with  the  mis- 
calculations of  how  much  the  sun  must  burn  up 
annually  under  the  so-called  laws  of  gravity  to 
supply  the  necessary  heat  to  the  earth  and  planets. 

Imagination— constructive  ideality— is  the  highest 
gift  of  Deity  to  man,  and  the  only  faculty  that  can 
reason  from  the  known  to  the  unknown  and  com- 
prehend the  wonders  and  grandeur  of  the  universe. 

I  am  not  a  practical  chemist  seeking  the  mys- 
teries of  nature  in  the  laboratory,  nor  a  professional 
scientist  exploring  the  fields  of  original  research; 
but,  like  La  Place,  Comte,  Herbert  Spencer  and 
others,  I  formulate  my  theories  and  scientific  hy- 
potheses from  the  latest  and  best  established  facts 
of  science  as  I  see  it.  Science  is  only  unified  or 
systematic  knowledge.  Every  fact  is  a  scientific 
fact,  and  every  truth  is  a  scientific  truth  whether 
it  pertains  to  so-called  science  or  to  religion  or 
philosophy.  Nature  has  no  subdivisions  of  science, 
religion  or  philosophy,  nor  astronomy,  chemistry 
or  geology ;  but  all  things  are  a  unity,  constituting 
one  harmonious  universe;  and  he  who  separates 
science  from  religion  or  either  from  philosophy  goes 
contrary  to  nature  and  divides  the  universe  into 
fractions.  As  I  am  not  a  member  of  any  scientific 


110  THE  UNIVERSE 

or  religious  association,  I  have  no  prejudices  to  over- 
come and  seek  the  truth  only,  without  fear,  favor 
or  undue  predilections.  Old  traditions,  fossilized 
theories  and  antiquated  authority  have  little  weight 
in  my  mind  by  the  side  of  recent  facts.  But  I  am 
not  an  iconoclast,  for  I  am  more  anxious  to  build 
up  than  to  tear  down. 

The  professional  scientists  may  deem  such  students 
of  nature  as  myself  who  trespass  upon  their  chosen 
domain  as  amateurs.  If  so,  it  is  a  proud  distinction. 
Amateurs  have  accomplished  nearly  all  the  great 
things  in  the  world's  history.  Cromwell  was  a 
farmer,  Hastings  and  Clive  were  clerks,  Bismarck 
twice  failed  in  his  examination  to  become  a  lawyer, 
Washington  was  a  surveyor  and  Franklin  a  printer, 
Herschell  was  a  musician,  Faraday  a  bookbinder, 
Scott  a  lawyer's  clerk,  Arkwright,  the  inventor  of 
the  spinning  machine,  was  a  barber;  Spinoza  a  glass- 
blower,  Herbert  Spencer  an  engineer,  Edison  a  news- 
boy, and  Stephenson,  the  inventor  of  the  locomotive, 
an  ordinary  workman;  Lincoln  was  a  railsplitter, 
Grant  a  tanner,  Andrew  Johnson  a  tailor,  Andrew 
Jackson  a  saddler,  Vanderbilt  a  ferryman,  Roths- 
child a  peddler,  Krupp  a  blacksmith,  Paul  a  tent- 
maker,  and  Christ  a  carpenter.  The  names  of  dis- 
tinguished amateurs  could  be  continued  indefinitely, 
but  space  forbids. 

As  I  have  discussed  this  question  elsewhere  and 
touched  on  it  in  other  chapters,  extended  discussion 
might  cause  repetition.  Besides,  this  volume  is  not 
intended  for  detail  or  abtruse  minutiae,  but  for  the 
statement  of  leading  facts  for  the  masses  of  intelli- 
gent people,  who  abhor  technical  terms  and  dry  de- 
tails. Many  people  find  scientific  books  so  dry  and 


LIGHT,  HEAT  AND  LIFE :  HOW  EVOLVED          111 

unpalatable,    that,   like  the  weary    listener    to    the 
dry,  dull  sermon  of  the  missionary,  who  said  : 

"If I  were  a  cannibal  from  Timbuctoo, 
I  would  eat  that  missionary  and  his  hymnbook  too." 

Doubtless  he  thought  the  hymnbook  would  be 
excellent  dessert  after  such  a  dry  meal;  and  some 
readers  of  scientific  works  find  most  any  kind  of 
dessert  refreshing  after  partaking  of  the  mental 
pabulum  of  dry  statistics  and  technical  terms  to 
be  found  in  many  scientific  works. 

Our  American  Indian  is  never  dull  or  unpoetic  in 
his  conception  of  the  Universe.  He  sees  God  in  the 
lightning,  hears  Him  in  the  thunder ;  and  according 
to  him  the  "  Milky  Way  "  is  the  "  Path  of  souls  "  lead- 
ing to  the  villages  in  the  sun.  Along  this  pathway 
travel  the  spirits  of  the  dead,  and  the  brighter 
stars  are  "the  campfires  for  the  solitary  journey 
to  the  land  of  the  hereafter." 

The  Japanese  term  the  Milky  Way  "the  silver 
river  of  heaven."  And  the  ancient  Greeks  con- 
sidered the  blue  dome  of  the  sky  a  crystal  globe 
where  dwelt  the  Olympian  gods. 

No  science  should  be  dry,  and  above  all  astron- 
omy should  lift  us  to  empyrean  heights  where  we 
may  tread  among  the  stars. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

RECENT  ELECTRICAL  DISCOVERIES    AND   APPLIANCES, 
WIRELESS  TELEGRAPHY,   ETC. 

IT  is  said  facts  are  now  being  discovered  and 
physical  theories  developed  the  ultimate  result  of 
which  may  be  the  explanation  of  the  mysterious 
phenomena  presented  by  the  corona  of  the  sun, 
the  tails  of  comets,  the  aurora,  terrestrial  magnet- 
ism and  its  variations,  nebulae  and  the  zodiacal 
light.  First,  these  facts  are  being  established  in 
connection  with  the  pressure  exerted  by  light  which 
was  pointed  out  by  Maxwell  and  deduced  by  him 
from  his  electro-magnetic  theory  of  light,  which  is, 
that  when  a  pencil  of  light  impinges  perpendicularly 
on  an  opaque  object,  it  produces  a  pressure  on  the 
surface  of  that  object.  This  pressure  is  determined 
by  the  condition  that  if  the  object  were  set  in  mo- 
tion with  the  velocity  of  light  and  the  force  against 
it  kept  up,  the  power  to  keep  up  the  pressure  would 
be  equal  to  that  carried  by  the  ray  of  light. 

Second,  that  particles  smaller  than  atoms,  called 
corpuscles  or  ions,  are  thrown  off  with  high  velocity 
from  the  intensely  heated  bodies.  The  sun,  they 
claim,  being  siich  a  body,  it  follows  that  such  ions 
must  be  shot  out  from  it.  On  this  theory  it  is  held 
that  the  explanation  of  a  comet's  tail  is  simple. 
The  comet  evaporates  on  the  side  next  to  the  sun 
and,  there  being  no  pressure  to  hinder  its  expansion, 


RECENT  ELECTRICAL  DISCOVERIES  113 

it  begins  in  flying  off  in  all  directions.  It  condenses 
into  very  minute  particles  which,  by  reason  of  the 
impulsion  or  pressure  of  the  sun's  rays,  are  thrown 
in  the  opposite  direction  from  the  sun. 

My  explanation  has  been,  without  all  this  detail, 
that  it  was  the  same  law  of  electric  repulsion 
which  drove  the  comet  off  and  prevented  it  falling 
into  the  sun,  which  also  drove  the  comet's  tail  in 
an  opposite  direction  from  the  sun. 

This  solution  of  the  comet's  tail  does  not  solve 
the  greater  one  of  the  repulsion  of  the  comet  itself. 
The  pressure  of  the  electric  ions  or  corpuscles  might 
force  the  tail  away,  but  a  greater  electric  force 
from  the  sun  drives  off  the  comet. 

Prof.  J.  J.  Thomson  and  Arrhenius,  a  Swedish 
physicist,  have  by  experiments  discovered  and  elab- 
orated the  manner  and  principles  on  which  the  ions 
or  corpuscles  operate.  Arrhenius  discovered  that 
these  ions  were  conductors  of  electricity  and  why, 
and  Prof.  Thomson  discovered  each  corpuscle  had 
the  same  electric  charge  as  an  ion  of  hydrogen, 
and  that  each  must  be  smaller  than  a  hydrogen 
atom — in  fact  only  a  thousandth  part  of  it. 

And  here  for  the  first  time  in  the  world's  history 
science  tells  us  there  are  bodies  smaller  than  an 
atom — a  thousand  times  smaller  than  an  atom. 
We  are  told  an  atom  is  a  thousand  times  smaller 
than  the  particles  of  invisible  air  we  breath ;  now 
we  have  an  ion  a  thousand  times  smaller  than  the 
atom.  Surely  the  scientists  have  at  last  reached 
my  theory  of  the  fourth  state  of  matter  which  I 
call  the  electro-magnetic.  In  fact  these  ions  or 
corpuscles  may  be  electricity  itself  or  the  atoms 
of  electricity  which  science  has  at  last  discovered. 
8 


114  THE  UNIVERSE 

And  streams  of  these  infinitesimal  ions  may  con- 
stitute the  swift  and  invisible  currents  of  electricity 
which  produce  all  natural  phenomena.  Prof.  Blake, 
of  the  Kansas  University,  says:  "  Crookes  called 
his  cathode  streams  the  fourth  form  of  matter, 
but  first  to-day  is  such  a  state  proven.  Now,  we 
must  recognize  at  the  beginning  of  this  twentieth 
century  a  new  form  of  matter.  We  have  to  deal 
with  negatively  charged  particles  so  small  that 
they  have  free  paths  of  motion  even  among  the 
atoms  of  substances." 

As  electric  currents  have  free  paths  of  motion 
even  among  the  atoms  of  matter,  these  ions  or  cor- 
puscles must  be  one  form  of  electricity  and  must 
be  both  positive  and  negative,  though  the  negative 
ions  attract  the  most  attention.  I  am  glad  to 
find  science  coming  to  my  conclusions  as  to  the 
fourth  state  of  matter.  But  instead  of  calling 
it  electric  ions,  electrons  or  Thomson  corpuscles,  it 
should  be  named  electro-magnetic  ether.  It  may 
be  that  science  has  at  last  discovered  what  elec- 
tricity is,  and  that  it  consists  of  these  infini- 
tesimal corpuscles.  Prof.  Blake  says:  "These  ions 
or  corpuscles  shatter  into  charged  gases  the  mole- 
cules of  gases  and  ionize  the  gases  and  make  them 
conductors  of  electricity;  they  raise  gases  to  in- 
candescence and  make  them  light-giving  sources; 
they  form  nuclei  about  which  matter  will  aggre- 
gate and  condense;  they  seem  to  explain  some  of 
the  most  stupendous  and  perplexing  problems 
in  cosmic  physics — such  as  the  cause  of  the  sun's 
corona,  the  spread  of  the  comet's  tail,  the  source 
of  the  meteors,  the  fantastic  play  of  the  auroras, 
whence  the  electric  displays  of  our  atmosphere,  the 


RECENT  ELECTRICAL  DISCOVERIES  115 

after-glow  of  the  setting  sun,  and  the  why  of  the 
zodiacal  light." 

He  says  the  corpuscles  seem  to  be  solving  the  big 
problems  of  the  heavens,  and  adds  :  "  The  corpuscles 
become  luminous  when  impinged  upon  by  electric 
waves;  and  waves  of  light,  which  are  electro-mag- 
netic disturbances,  must  move  them,  and  light  will 
be  produced  and  be  scattered  in  all  directions  as 
if  reflected  from  minute  particles  of  ordinary  mat- 
ter. This  may  account  for  the  glow  of  the  nebulae, 
and  the  zodiacal  light.  These  corpuscles,  being  ad- 
mitted into  the  moist  air  of  our  earth,  form  nu- 
clei of  condensation  and  drops  are  formed;  and 
the  growth  of  the  high,  fleecy  clouds  finds  its  be- 
ginning around  these  corpuscles.  They  also  strike 
our  equatorial  region;  there  they  are  influenced  by 
the  earth's  magnetic  forces  and  deflected  towards 
the  poles,  and  near  the  poles  they  reach  gases 
dense  enough  to  become  luminous  by  their  impact 
and  show  the  fantastic  colorings  of  the  aurora. 

"  Our  atmosphere  lies,  then,  like  a  great  insulating 
sheet  between  conducting  layers — the  surface  of  the 
ocean  and  the  upper  air.  In  the  ether  of  this  inter- 
mediate insulating  region  electric  waves  may  be 
set  up  to  be  propagated  as  signals  in  straight  lines 
in  all  directions.  When  wireless  telegraphy  first 
reached  out  timidly  into  space,  we  all  said  its  cur- 
rents would  leave  the  earth's  surface  within  a  short 
distance,  for  they  went  out  from  the  earth's  surface 
in  straight  lines;  but  as  they  extended  farther  and 
farther  they  seemed  to  bend  around  the  earth  and 
to  follow  its  curvature.  Hertz,  who  discovered  the 
electric  waves  which  Marconi  now  so  successfully 
uses  in  wireless  telegraphy,  showed  us  in  1887  that 


116  THE  UNIVERSE 

conductors  reflected  these  waves,  and  the  ocean's 
surface  sent  them  back  when  they  impinged  upon  it. 

"Now,  with  upper  air  layers  proven  conductors, 
the  electric  waves  must  be  deflected  from  above  as 
well  and  bent  downward  to  follow  the  earth's  cur- 
vature." 

And  thus  electric  signals,  silent  but  all  pervading, 
will  before  long  circle  our  globe  by  their  repeated 
deflections  through  this  great  speaking  tube  around 
the  earth.  The  mysterious  negative  corpuscles, 
more  minute  than  our  smallest  atoms,  thus  are 
themselves  the  very  basis  of  the  practicability  of 
wireless  telegraphy,  our  latest  invention.  Nay, 
more,  may  not  these  ions  or  corpuscles  be  atoms 
of  electricity,  and,  being  a  thousand  times  smaller 
than  atoms  of  matter,  impregnate  them  with  posi- 
tive and  negative  force? 

Inventors  have  been  endeavoring  to  send  mes- 
sages over  long  distances  without  wires  ever  since 
the  first  tests  were  made  in  1896.  Only  recently 
Marconi  has  succeeded  in  sending  them  across  the 
Atlantic,  two  thousand  miles  through  the  air. 

The  distance  to  which  messages  may  be  trans- 
mitted and  received  depends  on  the  amount  of  elec- 
tric energy  employed,  the  frequency  of  oscillation 
in  the  radiating  system,  the  length  of  the  electric 
waves  emitted,  the  height  of  the  perpendicular  wires 
from  the  ground,  the  medium  through  which  the 
waves  are  propagated,  the  sensitiveness  of  the 
coherer  or  receiver,  and  the  precision  with  which 
the  instruments  are  adjusted. 

Long  electric  waves  are  radiated  to  greater  dis- 
tances than  shorter  ones,  and  much  depends  on  the 
syntonic  system,  or  tuning  of  the  instrument,  so  as 


RECENT  ELECTRICAL  DISCOVERIES  117 

to  communicate  with  any  selected  receiver  to  the 
exclusion  of  all  others. 

An  electric  generator  supplies  the  source  of  elec- 
tricity for  operating  an  induction  coil  to  transform 
the  low  pressure  into  an  alternating  current  of  high 
pressure.  This  charges  the  wire  suspended  from  a 
mast  and  the  wire  leading  to  the  earth  to  a  suffi- 
cient potential  to  cause  the  opposite  charges  of  elec- 
tricity to  rush  together,  thus  forming  a  spark  or 
disruptive  discharge  through  a  small  air  gap;  as  a 
result  high  potential  currents  surge  to  and  fro 
through  the  wires  hundreds  of  thousands  of  times 
per  second. 

These  high  potential  currents  radiate  electric 
waves  which  are  propagated  as  light  waves  and 
spread  out  in  every  direction.  It  is  said  the  whole 
process  of  transmitting  and  receiving  wireless  mes- 
sages is  not  unlike  to  the  emission  of  light  and 
its  reception  by  the  retina  of  the  eye. 

The  reception  of  these  waves  is  by  means  of  a 
vertical  wire  similar  to  that  used  in  transmitting, 
the  difference  being  the  wires  at  the  terminals  are 
connected  with  metal  filings  inclosed  in  a  small 
glass  tube  called  the  coherer  instead  of  the  spark 
gap.  The  electric  waves  impinge  on  the  elevated 
wire  and  are  converted  into  electric  oscillations, 
which  act  on  the  filings,  and  an  auxiliary  circuit 
registers  the  impulses  on  a  ribbon  of  paper  in  read- 
able Morse  dots  and  dashes.  The  higher  the  ver- 
tical or  mast  wires  and  the  greater  the  number 
of  wires,  the  greater  the  wave  length  and  the  far- 
ther the  distance  transmitted. 

Marconi  in  his  first  Atlantic  tests  employed  kites 
and  balloons  to  carry  the  vertical  wire  so  that 


118  THE  UNIVERSE 

long  electric  waves  could  be  obtained.  Since  then 
he  has  carried  his  wires  on  high  masts,  as  at  Poldhu, 
Glace  Bay,  and  Wellfleet  Station.  The  Marconi 
companies  have  equipped  six  stations  in  the  United 
States,  five  in  Hawaii,  twenty  in  Great  Britain, 
one  in  Belgium  and  one  in  France.  There  are 
eighteen  ocean  steamers,  thirty-two  British-men-of 
war  and  several  Italian  and  American  warships 
which  have  Marconi  installations.  Marconi  says : 
"  There  are  thirty-five  land  stations,  twenty-one 
liners  and  eighty-five  warships  equipped  with  Mar- 
coni apparatus.  Land  stations  cost  $1,000,  and 
ship  equipment,  $700.  Trans-Atlantic  stations  cost 
$100,000  each." 

Wireless  telegraphy  is  the  most  recent  miracle  of 
electricity,  and  shows  it  to  be  the  cosmic  energy 
of  the  universe.  Science  stumbled  upon  it.  And 
in  the  same  way,  Sir  Wm.  Crookes,  in  a  recent  in- 
terview, says:  "Science  may  some  day  stumble 
upon  the  soul.  Men  of  science  believe  more  than 
they  can  express,  spiritually  as  well  as  physically." 
He  will  not  prophesy,  but  said  with  ominous  im- 
port:  "  If  you  had  come  to  me  a  hundred  years 
ago  do  you  think  I  should  have  dreamed  of  fore- 
telling the  telephone?  Why,  even  now  I  cannot 
understand  it.  I  use  it  every  day,  but  I  don't  un- 
derstand it.  Think  of  that  little,  stretched  disk  of 
iron  at  the  end  of  a  wire  repeating  not  only  sounds, 
but  words,  and  with  the  most  delicate  and  illusive 
inflections  of  tone  which  separate  one  human  voice 
from  another." 

Mr.  Peter  Cooper  Hewitt,  says  the  Electrical 
Review,  has  invented  a  new  apparatus  which  it  is 
said  will  make  a  revolution  in  the  method  of  send^ 


RECENT  ELECTRICAL  DISCOVERIES  119 

ing  wireless  telegraph  messages.  The  device  consists 
of  a  glass  globe  about  ten  inches  in  diameter,  hav- 
ing two  tubes  containing  mercury  sealed  in  the 
bottom  of  the  vessel. 

This  apparatus  acts  as  a  powerful  and  effective 
interrupter  and  takes  the  place  of  the  spark  gap 
now  used  in  discharging  the  condensers  for  setting 
up  electrical  waves.  It  enables  powerful,  rapid  and 
continuous  oscillations  to  be  set  up  in  the  antenna, 
or  sending  mast,  used  in  transmitting  wireless  mes- 
sages, and  not  only  enables  messages  to  be  sent 
over  very  great  distances  with  ease,  but  permits 
secrecy  to  be  maintained,  which  heretofore  has 
been  impossible. 

The  operation  of  this  device  depends  upon  two 
new  phenomena  in  physics  which  Mr.  Hewitt  has 
discovered  in  the  course  of  his  researches.  The 
first  is  the  resistance  of  the  mercury  in  the  appa- 
ratus to  a  passage  of  current  until  a  high  potential 
has  been  applied;  the  second  is  the  disappearance 
of  this  resistance  after  this  high  voltage  has  been 
reached. 

The  effect  of  these  two  phenomena  is  to  permit 
a  condenser  to  be  charged  to  a  high  potential  and 
then,  by  the  disappearance  of  the  resistance  of  the 
interrupter,  to  discharge  it  very  rapidly.  The  result 
of  this  action  is  to  set  up  violent  and  rapid  current 
impulses  in  the  circuit  containing  the  condenser,  and 
thence  in  the  sending  wire.  The  current  impulse, 
being  very  powerful,  will  enable  messages  to  be 
sent  to  great  distances,  and  as  the  number  of  oscil- 
lations per  second  can  be  controlled,  this  permits 
of  selective  signaling.  The  number  of  impulses  can 
l?e  made  very  high — above  a  million  a  second.  The 


120  THE  UNIVERSE 

device  is  inexpensive  and  durable.  It  is  considered 
a  great  contribution  to  wireless  telegraphy  and 
establishes  it  on  a  commercial  basis,  and  selective 
signaling  is  solved  and  trans-Atlantic  transmission 
will  be  easy. 

Radium  is  a  rare  metal  recently  discovered,  hav- 
ing remarkable  qualities  and  very  difficult  to  ob- 
tain. It  is  a  constituent  of  pitchblende,  which  is 
found  in  many  places,  but  only  in  a  small  way. 
So  far  all  that  has  been  procured  has  come  from 
a  mine  in  Cornwall.  A  ton  of  pitchblende  carries 
about  15^  grains  of  radium  and  it  is  very  difficult 
to  extract.  A  grain  is  estimated  to  be  worth  $200,- 
000  and  a  kilogram  is  worth  about  $2,000,000. 
There  is  only  about  one  pound  of  radium  in  the 
world.  It  is  estimated  to  be  worth  $1,000,000. 

Radium  was  discovered  by  M.  and  Mme.  Curie, 
in  France,  after  they  had  familiarized  themselves 
with  the  remarkable  properties  of  uranium  and 
polonium.  Radium  has  many  curious  and  inexpli- 
cable qualities.  It  continually  emits  heat  and  light 
without  combustion,  without  chemical  changes  of 
any  kind,  and  without  any  change  in  its  bulk,  ap- 
pearance or  molecular  structure,  which  remains 
identical  after  many  months. 

It  is  so  powerful  in  the  energy  it  constantly  hurls 
forth  as  to  entail  many  dangers  in  handling  it. 
Sir  Wm.  Crookes  says  in  describing  it:  "  Probably 
if  half  a  kilogram  were  in  a  bottle  on  that  table 
it  would  kill  us  all.  It  would  most  certainly  de- 
stroy our  sight  and  burn  our  skins  to  such  an 
extent  we  could  not  survive.  The  smallest  bit  placed 
on  one's  arm  would  produce  a  blister  it  would 
take  months  to  heal."  It  also  emits  electrons  with  a 


RECENT  ELECTRICAL  DISCOVERIES  121 

velocity  so  great  that  Prof.  Crookes  estimates  "one 
gram  is  enough  to  lift  the  whole  of  the  British 
navy  to  the  top  of  Ben  Nevis,  and  I  am  not  quite 
certain  that  we  could  not  throw  in  the  French 
fleet  as  well." 

It  has  such  surprising  properties  that  Lord  Kel- 
vin was  moved  to  say  of  it  that,  "it  threatens  to 
overthrow  the  correlation  of  forces,"  which  is  the 
rock-ribbed,  foundation  postulate  of  science.  It 
seems  already  to  have  unsettled  the  accepted  theory 
of  light,  and  after  the  experiments  of  the  Rus- 
sian scientists  who  are  now  investigating  it,  Profs. 
Mendelief,  Yigooff  and  Borgruan,  the  result  may 
give  us  new  scientific  theories  and  a  new  nomen- 
clature. 

Radium  tends  to  confirm  my  electric  theory  of 
creation,  it  also  seems  to  aid  the  Thomson  cor- 
puscles hypothesis,  and  will  open  the  way  to  new 
and  important  discoveries. 

My  opinion  from  very  brief  thought  on  the  sub- 
ject is  that  radium  is  in  its  nature  a  form  of  elec- 
tric energy  solidified,  and  may  be  a  bundle  of  Thom- 
son corpuscles  or  electrons  combined  and  solidified 
by  some  process  not  yet  understood.  It  is  in  the 
nature  of  an  electric  dynamo,  and  draws  its  con- 
stant supply  of  electricity  from  the  air.  It  is  plain 
that  it  is  an  electric  substance  and  manifestation, 
for,  as  Prof.  Crookes  says,  "it  emits  electrons  with  a 
velocity  so  great  one  gram  would  lift  the  British 
navy  to  the  top  of  a  mountain,  and  he  is  even 
willing  to  throw  in  the  French  fleet."  If  he  were 
not  a  great  scientist,  I  should  say  he  was  exaggerat- 
ing like  an  amateur.  Radium  is  at  present  a  great 
scientific  puzzle.  It  seems  to  destroy  the  present 


122  THE  UNIVERSE 

theory  of  light  and  the  conservation  of  energy 
and  the  so-called  attraction  of  gravitation  by  rea- 
son of  its  marvelous  energy  and  wonderful  quali- 
ties. 

But  I  stand  with  the  scientists  on  the  doctrine 
of  the  conservation  of  energy  and  the  correlation 
of  forces,  and  do  not  believe  radium  seriously 
threatens  it,  though  Lord  Kelvin  had  much  reason 
to  say  so;  and  it  is  a  puzzle  yet  unsolved  as  to 
how  it  maintains  its  energy  without  diminution 
of  its  force  and  bulk.  I  see  but  one  explanation, 
and  that  is,  that  it  renews  itself  constantly  b}' 
drawing  electric  energy  from  the  air,  as  a  battery 
or  dynamo  draws  it,  and  thus  retains  its  marvelous 
power  unimpaired. 

I  hold  that  energy,  like  matter,  is  a  substance 
and  can  neither  be  created  nor  destroyed.  It  is 
impossible  to  create  a  molecule  out  of  nothing  or 
to  reduce  a  single  particle  of  energy  to  nothing. 
Energy,  like  matter,  can  be  changed  from  one  form 
to  another  or  from  one  place  to  another,  but  all 
matter  is  one  matter  in  its  elemental  form,  and  all 
energy  is  from  one  original  energy,  which  I  hold  to 
be  electricity.  All  matter  is  the  aggregate  mani- 
festations of  the  invisible  atom,  and  all  energy  is 
the  varied  manifestations  of  the  one  ultimate  and 
only  force  in  nature — electricity. 

The  transformation  of  energy,  such  as  falling 
water,  expanding  steam,  heat,  light,  vital  force, 
and  so-called  gravitation,  are  all  from  the  same 
electric  elemental  force,  and  this  energy  is  without 
increase  or  decrease  and  is  known  as  the  conser- 
vation of  energy.  The  definition  given  of  electric- 
ity by  Atkins  in  his  work  on  electricity,  which  says, 


RECENT  ELECTRICAL  DISCOVERIES  123 

"it  is  a  molecular  mode  of  motion,"  is  an  absurd- 
ity, for  motion  is  an  effect  produced  by  a  cause, 
and  all  motion  is  caused  by  electric  energy.  And 
the  mode  of  motion  is  simply  the  manner  in  which 
the  law  of  electro-magnetism  operates.  Thus  there 
may  be  an  electric  law  yet  undiscovered  by  which 
a  substance  like  radium  may  draw  electric  energy 
from  the  air  and  keep  its  force  and  bulk  unim- 
paired for  many  months,  or  perpetually. 

But  radium  raises  many  other  questions  affect- 
ing the  nature  of  light  and  heat,  such  as  how  such 
great  heat  and  light  can  be  condensed  into  so  small 
a  compass  and  evolved  with  such  wonderful  power. 

Prospecting  for  valuable  metals  by  electricity 
has  been  recently  introduced  in  Wales  with  remark- 
able success.  In  the  Cwncystwyth  mines  in  Corn- 
wall new  and  valuable  deposits  of  ore  and  blende 
were  located.  These  mines  have  been  worked  for 
over  fifteen  hundred  years,  and  much  of  this  time 
the  search  for  additional  lodes  has  been  going  on; 
yet  this  electrical  device  accomplished  in  a  few  hours 
what  fifteen  centuries  of  search  failed  to  discover. 

By  the  electric  method  of  prospecting  a  current 
of  high  potential — 30, 000  volts  or  more — is  employed 
to  energize  a  piece  of  ground  supposed  to  contain 
mineral.  The  current  is  taken  from  the  terminals 
of  the  generating  coil  to  metal  rods  or  electrodes 
which  are  pushed  an  inch  or  two  into  the  earth. 
From  these  distributers  the  lines  of  force  spread 
out  in  both  vertical  and  horizontal  planes  and 
may  be  made  to  extend  over  an  area  of  several 
miles. 

Their  presence  is  detected  by  means  of  a  delicate 
telephonic  receiver  connected  with  a  second  pair  of 


124  THE  UNIVERSE 

metallic  rods,  which  are  stuck  into  the  earth  in  any 
desired  position.  When  the  receiver  is  silent  or 
gives  only  faint  sounds,  it  indicates  that  the  lines 
of  force  are  deflected  from  their  normal  course. 
This  reveals  the  presence  of  metallic  masses  in  the 
earth,  and,  by  moving  the  electrodes  about,  the 
position  and  area  of  an  ore  deposit  may  be  deter- 
mined with  considerable  accuracy.  In  new  and  un- 
known ground  the  operator  would  place  his  dis- 
tributing electrodes  about  200  yards  apart,  and 
remove  his  receiving  instrument  to  a  distance  of 
half  a  mile  or  more.  If  his  general  knowledge  of 
geological  formation  led  him  to  believe  that  the 
metallic  veins,  if  there  were  any,  would  run  gener- 
ally north  and  south,  he  would  place  his  electrodes 
east  and  west,  and  if  he  found  the  electrical  dis- 
tribution normal  he  might  conclude  that  the  ground 
contained  no  mineral. 

This  remarkable  electrical  system  for  detecting 
the  mineral  deposits  beneath  the  surface  of  the 
earth  will  doubtless  be  tested  and  perfected  until 
man  will  be  able  without  digging  into  the  earth 
to  ascertain  the  mineral  deposits  at  any  point  be- 
neath its  surface.  It  may  not  always  determine  if 
they  may  be  profitably  worked,  but  in  many  min- 
ing regions  it  will  be  a  blessing,  and  save  much  un- 
profitable work  and  sad  disappointment. 

Electrically  heated  cooking  and  laundry  appa- 
ratus is  now  used  in  Germany  and  other  countries. 
And  there  are  farms  on  large  German  estates 
which  are  run  by  electricity.  The  Guednau  farm  in 
Eastern  Prussia  consists  of  450  acres,  and  its  dairy 
handles  one  thousand  gallons  of  milk  daily.  It 
is  lighted  by  electricity,  has  an  electrical  churn 


RECENT  ELECTRICAL  DISCOVERIES  125 

and  feed-cutting  machine,  water-pumping  appar- 
atus, incandescent  lamps,  threshing  and  grist  mills, 
saw  mill,  automatic  plough  and  electrical  agricul- 
tural machines,  all  run  by  charged  batteries  and 
a  fifty-horse  power  stationery  engine  moving  two 
dynamos.  Thus  farming  is  made  attractive  and 
free  from  drudgery,  and  is  run  like  a  machine  by  the 
electric  current.  Electricity  is  used  not  only  to 
run  some  farms,  but  also  to  hasten  and  increase 
the  growth  of  farm  products  by  running  wires  a 
few  inches  beneath  the  surface  to  energize  the  soil. 

The  Commercial  Cable  Company  announce  that 
their  ocean  cable  connections  will  be  complete  with 
Manila,  in  the  Philippines,  by  the  4th  of  July  of 
this  year,  1903,  and  that  on  that  day  they  will 
telegraph  around  the  world  in  forty  seconds.  What 
a  miracle  of  wonders  !  Fifty  years  ago  the  speediest 
communication  from  point  to  point  was  by  swift 
horsemen  making  fifty  miles  a  day.  Now  the  round 
earth's  antipodes  is  only  forty  seconds  apart  by 
reason  of  electric  appliances. 

So  wonderful  has  been  the  growth  of  electrical 
appliances  and  utilities  that  Prof.  H.  B.  Shaw,  of 
the  Missouri  University,  in  a  recent  lecture,  said  : 
"In  twenty  years  the  electric  light  industry  has 
developed  from  nothing  to  the  manufacture  of  over 
100,000  incandescent  lamps  per  day.  Ninety-five 
per  cent,  of  the  street  railways  in  this  country  are 
electrically  operated.  Yet  this  industry  was  cradled 
in  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  only  about  twenty  years  ago." 

This  was  when  I  first  had  my  attention  drawn 
to  electricity,  for  I  saw  the  building  of  that  line 
on  East  Fifth  street,  in  that  city.  That  and  the 
lighting  of  the  gas  by  an  electric  flash  from  a  human 


126  THE  UNIVERSE 

body  caused  me  to  investigate  electric  phenomena 
and  formulate  the  electric  theory  of  creation. 

Prof.  Shaw  said  :  "  The  latest  development  in  long 
distance  power  is  in  California,  where  ten  thousand 
horse  power  is  transmitted  two  hundred  miles  from 
where  it  is  generated  with  a  loss  of  only  ten  per 
cent,  of  power  in  the  line.  Ten  thousand  horse 
power  is  sufficient  to  raise  a  million  tons  two  inches 
per  minute." 

What  a  miracle  that  such  power  can  pass  along 
a  wire  no  larger  than  a  child's  finger,  and  exert 
such  force  two  hundred  miles  from  where  it  is  gen- 
erated !  Nothing  but  the  invisible  creative  cosmic 
force  of  the  universe  could  accomplish  such  a  seem- 
ing miracle. 

But  some  scientists  are  so  irrational  as  to  say 
this  force  is  merely  the  pressure,  twist  or  whirl  of 
the  ether,  when  it  is  plain  that  if  the  ether  were 
as  rigid  as  steel  it  could  not  exert  such  force  and 
power.  And  as  to  it  being  a  derivative  force  de- 
rived from  the  coal,  wood  or  sun,  it  is  plain  it  is 
the  same  force  and  the  original,  ultimate,  creating 
evolving  and  only  force  in  the  physical  universe. 

There  has  been  much  labor  and  money  expended 
in  endeavoring  to  perfect  a  balloon  or  airship, 
which  would  be  safe  and  could  be  directed  through 
the  air  at  will  in  any  course  desired.  Electricity 
has  been  used  as  the  steering  power  and  aluminum, 
because  of  its  light  weight,  for  the  frame- work. 
The  French  especially  have  given  great  attention 
to  what  they  call  the  dirigible  balloon,  but  no 
great  amount  of  success  has  been  achieved  and, 
in  my  opinion,  never  will. 

In   the    very   nature    of   things,  no    safe    airship 


RECENT  ELECTRICAL  DISCOVERIES  127 

can  ever  be  built.  It  was  not  intended  that  man 
should  travel  or  carry  burdens  through  the  upper 
regions  of  the  air.  First,  because  the  law  of  the 
earth's  electric  attraction  forbids  it.  Second,  be- 
cause the  sudden  and  powerful  wind  and  electric 
currents  that  pervade  the  upper  regions  of  the  at- 
mosphere are  sure  to  bring  ruin  and  death,  sooner 
or  later,  and  no  human  power  can  prevent  it. 

The  balloon  or  airship  is  only  a  dangerous  toy 
which  can  be  useful  perhaps  in  times  of  war  to 
spy  out  the  enemy,  but  utterly  useless  otherwise, 
and  which  means  death  in  a  very  short  time  to 
all  who  risk  their  lives  in  its  treacherous  power. 

There  have  been  twro  recent  and  striking  exam- 
ples of  this  in  the  case  of  the  two  distinguished 
experts  in  Paris  who  thought  they  had  built  air- 
ships that  could  overcome  the  powers  of  nature, 
and  while  proudly  exhibiting  them  to  their  family 
and  friends  were  hurled  to  a  sudden  and  fearful 
death. 

The  many  deaths  and  narrow  escapes  from  these 
useless  and  dangerous  toys  make  it  almost  certain 
that  no  sane  man  would  risk  his  life  in  one  of  them, 
though  there  were  a  thousand  at  his  command  free 
of  expense. 

Of  all  the  useless  follies  on  which  inventive  genius 
and  money  have  been  expended,  the  airship  is  the 
worst,  because  if  millions  of  the  most  perfect  ones 
the  imagination  of  man  can  conceive  were  built 
and  offered  free,  no  prudent  man  would  risk  his 
life  or  his  goods  in  their  treacherous  care.  The 
powers  of  nature,  and  what  the  ancients  called  the 
demons  of  the;  air,  forbid  that  the  airship  should 
ever  be  anything  more  than  a  dangerous  toy  for 


128  THE  UNIVERSE 

reckless  persons,  who  wish  to  jeopardize  their  lives. 

Great  efforts  have  been  made,  much  money  ex- 
pended and  many  lives  lost  in  futile  attempts  to 
find  the  North  Pole,  which  when  discovered  may 
appear  like  any  other  ice  field,  mountain  glacier, 
or  snowdrift  of  the  Arctic  Circle.  But  the  thirst 
for  knowledge  and  the  love  of  adventure  and  ex- 
ploration where  no  financial  reward  can  be  expected 
is  creditable  to  humanity,  and  shows  that  the  love  of 
knowledge  is  sometimes  above  that  of  sordid  gain. 
The  struggle  for  two  centuries  has  been  to  reach 
the  North  Pole,  and  it  has  been  approached  as  near 
as  700  miles;  but  recent  reports  indicate  that  con- 
ditions are  more  favorable  for  reaching  the  South 
Pole;  and  a  French  expedition  outfitted  this  year 
for  the  North  Pole  have  changed  their  destination 
to  the  South  Pole.  One  or  both  poles  are  likely  to 
be  discovered  in  a  few  years. 

There  have  been  many  scientific  expeditions  to 
various  parts  of  our  globe  for  astronomical  obser- 
vations. One  recently  sent  to  Chili  from  the  Lick 
Observatory  should  command  especial  interest  since 
its  object  is  by  the  study  of  the  southern  stars  to 
ascertain  where  the  earth  and  the  solar  system 
is  going.  We  know  our  sun  system  is  moving  swift- 
ly towards  the  north,  in  the  direction  of  the  stars 
Vega  or  Alpha  Lyra,  at  the  rate  of  more  than 
forty-three  thousand  miles  an  hour.  Each  year 
we  are  more  than  three  hundred  million  miles  nearer 
these  stars,  unless  they  also  are  in  motion  in  the 
same  direction.  The  southern  stars  have  been 
studied  much  less  than  the  northern  stars,  and  the 
testimony  of  both  is  desired  to  determine  the  di- 
rection of  the  mysterious  voyage  of  the  sun  and  its 


RECENT  ELECTRICAL  DISCOVERIES  129 

family  of  worlds  through  the  unexplored  regions 
of  space. 

We  have  been  watching  the  stars  in  front  of  us 
for  many  years,  and  will  now  give  some  attention 
to  the  stars  in  our  rear  to  confirm  or  disprove 
many  astronomical  hypotheses. 

It  is  like  getting  back  to  anti-Copernican  times 
to  have  Dr.  Alfred  Russell  Wallace,  in  his  flights 
of  speculative  astronomy,  say  that,  "our  solar 
system  is  central  in  the  universe  and  that  this 
earth  of  ours  is  probably  the  only  planet  on  which 
humanity  has  been  developed."  In  a  recent  article 
he  undertakes  to  establish  this  ancient  fallacy.  It 
is  very  doubtful  whether  the  universe  has  a  gen- 
eral center,  but  if  it  has  it  should  be  plain  to  our 
learned  astronomer  that  as  our  system  is  moving 
through  space  in  a  straight  line  at  the  rate  of 
420,000  miles  per  day  it  could  not  occupy  a  cen- 
tral position  very  long.  The  only  means  we  have 
to  judge  of  the  inhabitability  of  other  worlds  is 
by  analogy,  which  is  the  foundation  of  all  scientific 
hypotheses.  The  likeness  in  form,  substance  and  elec- 
tric power  of  suns  and  planets  to  our  own  world 
leads  to  the  natural  conclusion  that  all  suns  and 
worlds  are  inhabitated.  In  fact  any  other  assump- 
tion is  contrary  to  all  cosmological  reasoning  and 
all  analogy  to  be  found  in  universal  nature.  Na- 
ture nowhere  bestows  vast  substance  and  power 
without  commensurate  results  of  life  and  growth, 
and  it  is  reversing  all  the  laws  of  reason,  analogy 
and  cosmic  experience  to  hold  to  the  contrary. 
We  must  give  up  this  egotistic  assumption  that 
our  little  world  is  the  only  living  world  in  this  vast 
universe,  or  that  it  is  only  one  of  a  few  living  worlds. 
9 


130  THE  UNIVERSE 

There  are  no  dead  worlds  or  planets  or  burning 
suns  in  this  electric  universe,  and  we  are  not  "the 
only  pebble  on  the  boundless  beach"  of  creative 
worlds.  We  have  the  same  electric  fire  in  our  bodies 
that  is  in  the  sun,  and  it  neither  burns  us  nor  causes 
us  to  shrink  up  annually,  as  the  scientists  say  the 
sun  does.  It  is  not  the  consumer  of  life,  but  the 
giver  of  life,  and  the  continual  life  energy  of  the 
universe. 

During  a  recent  eclipse  of  the  moon,  Prof.  W. 
H.  Pickering,  of  Harvard  Observatory,  ascertained 
that  the  bright  spot  around  the  crater  Linne  on  the 
surface  of  the  moon  grows  considerably  larger  when 
deprived  of  the  heat  of  the  sun.  For  many  years 
it  has  been  noticed  that  the  Linne  area  has  been 
gradually  changing  and  many  theories  regarding 
the  causes  have  been  advanced. 

Prof.  Pickering  is  inclined  to  the  belief  that  it 
is  hoar  frost  or  ice.  This  tends  to  confirm  my 
theory  that  the  moon  has  an  atmosphere  and  some 
moisture  which  is  mostly  hidden  in  its  perforated 
volcanic  surface. 

Alexander  Young,  an  astronomer  of  Laport,  Ind., 
announced  on  February  20th.  1903,  that,  "from 
observations  made  by  him,  he  is  confident  that 
the  sun  is  inhabited;  that  with  his  instruments  he 
has  seen  on  the  sun's  surface  mountain  sides  with 
great  and  precipitous  rocks  which  glow  with  pris- 
matic colors,  mingled  with  the  greenness  of  peren- 
nial vegetation." 

I  was  not  expecting  this  scientific  proof  so  soon, 
but  I  am  satisfied  that  the  inhabitants,  the  moun- 
tains and  the  perennial  vegetation  are  there;  and 
if  he  has  succeeded  in  magnifying  the  rays  of  light 


RECENT  ELECTRICAL  DISCOVERIES  131 

from  the  vast  openings  in  the  sun's  photosphere 
sufficiently  he  can  and  did  see  them. 

I  am  a  firm  believer  in  the  inhabitability  of  the 
sun,  and  that  it  is  a  perfected,  self-luminous  world 
— a  world  like  our  world,  only  vastly  larger  and  more 
prolific  in  life  and  power.  As  it  is  the  source  of  all 
life  and  power  to  the  planets,  it  must  be  the  creator 
of  all  life  to  its  celestial  inhabitants. 

Profs.  Proctor  and  Herschell  seem  to  believe  that 
most  of  the  heavenly  bodies  are  inhabited.  Sir 
Wm.  Herschell  went  so  far  as  to  contend  for  a  time 
that  the  sun  was  inhabited  or  inhabitable  be- 
cause, he  said,  the  heat  of  the  sun  was  in  its  photo- 
sphere, which  was  far  out  in  space  and  many  miles 
from  the  sun's  surface,  and  that  there  were  cool 
clouds  and  layers  of  atmosphere,  he  thought,  be- 
tween the  heat  and  the  sun's  surface  which  made 
the  body  of  the  sun  cool  enough  for  animal  and 
vegetable  life  and  human  habitation.  He  changed 
his  mind,  however,  in  a  few  years  and  held  the  heat 
of  the  sun  was  too  hot  to  allow  anything  in  na- 
ture to  keep  such  excessive  heat  from  its  surface, 
and  besides,  the  law  of  the  conservation  of  forces 
just  coming  into  scientific  prominence  then  forbid  it. 

Prof.  Proctor,  says:  "I  adopt  the  principle  of 
Sir  Wm.  Herschell  that  analogy  is  the  chief  and 
the  best  guide  for  the  student  of  astronomy.  That 
general  resemblance  of  structure  indicates  a  general 
resemblance  in  the  purpose  which  the  celestial  bodies 
are  intended  to  subserve  is  evident  when  we  compare 
the  stars  with  our  sun  or  with  each  other.  Some 
time  or  other  those  worlds  have  been  or  will  be 
the  abode  of  intelligent  creatures  seems  to  be  a  fair 
conclusion  from  what  we  know  of  their  structure." 


132  THE  UNIVERSE 

Deity  does  no  irrational  things,  nature  is  always 
logical  and  consistent,  and  where  there  is  such 
vast  resources  of  substance  and  power  bestowed, 
as  in  our  sun  and  the  eighteen  millions  of  suns 
of  the  universe,  it  was  not  for  the  purpose  of  mak- 
ing bonfires  and  blazing  furnaces  of  them.  But 
they  were  created  for  vaster,  more  perfect  theatres 
of  intelligent  life  and  activities.  Besides,  burning 
them  up  could  bestow  no  benefit  on  the  planets; 
the  heat  could  not  reach  them,  and  if  it  could  it 
is  only  a  sensation,  and  sensation  cannot  produce 
vegetable  or  animal  life,  or  control  the  earth's 
motion. 

One  of  the  greatest  of  modern  discoveries  is  that 
heat  is  not  a  substance  but  a  sensation,  produced 
by  electric  currents.  So  that  eighteen  millions  to 
one  hundred  millions  of  suns  do  not  need  to  be 
burning  up  to  furnish  electric  currents  to  their 
planetary  worlds.  And  our  sun  is  not  burning  up 
thirty  quintillions  cubic  feet  of  itself  annually,  and 
a  hundred  millions  of  suns  many  a  thousand  times 
larger  than  ours  are  not  burning  up  a  thousand 
times  more  of  themselves,  as  the  astronomers  claim, 
and  the  whole  thing  is  a  great  absurdity  and 
superstition. 


CHAPTER  IX 

AT  PRESENT  SCIENCE  IS  IN  A  DUBIOUS  AND  CHAOTIC 
CONDITION 

THE  last  few  years  have  been  remarkable  for  the 
diligence  with  which  scientists  have  scrutinized 
every  phenomena  of  nature,  and  the  abundance  of 
new  facts  which  have  rewarded  their  researches. 

They  have  also  been  remarkable  for  the  changes 
in  scientific  opinions,  which  usually  are  so  gradual 
as  to  be  imperceptible,  but  which  have  recently 
taken  on  the  speed  of  the  earth's  solar  revolution 
in  their  transition  from  the  old  to  new  theories. 

The  vast  body  of  scientists  are  seldom  a  unit 
in  the  acceptance  of  any  theory,  even  of  the  most 
fundamental  nature.  And  where  there  is  such  di- 
versity of  belief  each  student  of  nature  is  entitled 
to  form  his  own  opinions  and  beliefs. 

But  the  most  pitiable  and  unfortunate  of  the  one- 
sided scientists  are  those  who  would  banish  logic 
from  the  realms  of  physics,  and  who  regard  a  de- 
duction or  a  theory  as  an  enemy  of  science;  who 
heap  scorn  on  analytic  reason — the  highest  gift  of 
Deity  to  man— and  who  deem  the  tabulation  of 
dry  facts  without  causes  the  only  purpose  of  science. 
Who  want  science  fenced  in  with  a  stone  wall  and 
separated  from  religion  and  philosophy,  and  the 
earth  cut  up  into  sections  and  labelled  astronomy, 
chemistry,  geology,  and  so  on  ad  infinitum ;  as  if  na- 


134  THE  UNIVERSE 

ture  knew  anything  about  astronomy,  chemistry 
or  geology,  or  ever  considered  anything  but  the 
unity  and  harmony  of  the  whole  universe,  which 
includes  science,  religion  and  philosophy,  one  and 
inseparable,  as  God  and  nature  are  inseparable. 

Mr.  Cope  Whitehouse,  a  New  York  scientist,  says 
of  present  science:  "The  only  fact  established  be- 
yond doubt  regarding  suns  and  planets  is  their 
revolution  on  their  axes,  and  this  is  all  that  is 
needed  to  generate  light  and  heat.  They  are  arc 
dynamos,  and  each  in  turn  transmits  what  it  re- 
ceives to  its  neighbor  on  the  circuit."  This  is  well 
stated  and  shows  that  nine-tenths  of  the  accepted 
facts  and  theories  of  science  are  mere  guesswork, 
founded  upon  conjectures  of  some  eminent  scientist 
who  was  accepted  as  authority  a  hundred  years 
ago.  And  the  standard  scientific  works  have  prop- 
agated them  as  scientific  facts. 

It  is  a  fact  apparent  to  all  well  informed  students 
that  astronomy,  physics  and  chemistry  at  present  are 
in  a  chaotic  condition — that  nearly  all  the  scientific 
facts  and  theories  established  for  two  hundred  years 
are  now  in  a  state  of  uncertainty  and  are  virtually 
overthrown  by  recent  discoveries. 

The  recent  discovery  of  radium  seems  to  overturn 
the  rock-ribbed  scientific  theory  of  the  conservation 
of  energy,  and  raises  many  new  questions  in  regard 
to  the  nature  of  light  and  heat. 

Lord  Kelvin,  recognized  as  the  highest  authority, 
says:  "It  threatens  to  overthrow  the  doctrine  of 
the  correlation  of  forces."  If  the  scientists  would 
accept  the  electric  theory  of  creation,  its  explana- 
tion would  not  be  so  difficult,  for  radium  seems 
to  be  a  bundle  of  electric  ions  or  corpuscles  which 


PRESENT  SCIENCE  IS  CHAOTIC  135 

have  the  power  of  drawing  electricity  from  the  at- 
mosphere, like  a  minature  dynamo  or  a  galvanic 
battery,  and  thus  continually  renewing  itself,  so  that 
there  is  no  loss  of  power  and  no  shrinkage  in  size 
or  bulk.  The  scientists  may  soon  be  forced  by 
radium  and  other  natural  phenomena  to  accept 
the  electric  theory — that  electricity  and  not  gravity 
is  the  one  and  only  fundamental  force  in  nature. 

The  recent  discovery  of  the  three  lines  in  the 
spectrum  of  hydrogen,  discovered  by  Prof.  Picker- 
ing, of  Harvard,  may  upset  the  whole  theory  of  the 
seventy-three  elements  set  forth  in  our  books  of 
chemistry  and  said  to  constitute  all  the  elements 
of  the  universe.  It  may  prove  they  are  not  elements, 
or  at  least  not  primary  elements  at  all,  and  finally 
drive  the  scientists  to  my  theory  that  there  are 
only  three  primary  elements  in  the  universe,  and 
they  are  spirit,  electricity  and  matter.  That  the 
so-called  seventy-three  elements  are  only  different 
combinations  of  two  of  the  original  and  primary 
elements — matter  and  electricity — and  are  what  Her- 
schell  said  they  looked  to  be — "  manufactured  arti- 
cles." 

Prof.  Pickering  was  the  first  to  analyze  light- 
ning with  the  spectroscope  and  show  that  hydro- 
gen is  a  compound  substance  made  up  of  lines 
belonging  to  at  least  three  chemical  elements.  This 
recent  discovery  was  a  great  surprise  to  scientific 
men.  And  it  was  confirmed  and  doubly  proven 
by  the  spectrum  in  the  new  star,  in  the  constel- 
lation of  Perseus,  known  as  Nova  Persei,  which 
also  shows  in  the  hydrogen  there  the  same  lines 
consisting  of  at  least  three  chemical  elements. 

This  is  new  proof  by  high  authority  that  oxygen, 


136  THE  UNIVERSE 

hydrogen  and  all  the  so-called  elements  are — as  I 
have  contended  for  many  years — only  compound 
substances,  and  justifies  Prof.  Serviss'  statement  in 
the  New  York  Journal,  that  these  facts  "may  revo- 
lutionize science  and  reconstruct  chemistry." 

The  marvelous  increase  in  brilliancy  of  the  star 
Nova  Persei  last  year,  and  its  sudden  shrinkage, 
all  within  a  few  days,  and  the  same  being  observ- 
able almost  instantaneously  upon  the  earth,  when 
that  star  is  3,400  light  years  distance  from  the 
earth  according  to  the  accepted  speed  of  light,  which 
is  186,000  miles  a  second,  unsettles  the  whole  ques- 
tion as  to  the  speed  of  light.  It  tends  to  prove 
that  light  is  instantaneous,  as  Prof.  Wright  says 
gravitation  is. 

No  less  an  authority  than  Prof.  Simon  Newcomb 
calls  the  scientific  world's  attention  to  this  phenom- 
ena, and  shows  it  throws  doubt  on  the  long-ac- 
cepted theory  as  to  the  speed  with  which  light 
travels.  In  his  address  before  the  Astronomical 
Society,  December  29th,  1902,  he  says:  "There 
is  an  inadequacy  in  the  speed  of  light  to  explain 
the  phenomena.  We  are  forced  to  the  conclusion 
that  there  exists  in  the  universe  a  cause  suscepti- 
ble of  transmission  with  a  speed  many  times  that 
of  light." 

What  cause  exceeds  the  speed  of  light,  which  is 
deemed  the  swiftest  thing  in  the  universe?  We 
know  of  none.  What  was  it  surprised  the  scientists 
and  came  to  us  with  many  times  the  supposed 
speed  of  .light?  It  was  light,  only  light.  Then 
this  "inadequacy  in  the  speed  of  light"  came  on 
double-quick  time,  and  proves  that  light  can  travel 
many  times  faster  than  the  scientists  for  two  hun- 


PRESENT  SCIENCE  IS  CHAOTIC  137 

dred  years  have  declared  it  could.  And  this  eminent 
scientist,  with  cautious  diplomacy,  does  not  directly 
attack  the  accepted  speed  of  light,  but  says  "  there 
exists  a  cause"  that  produces  a  greater  speed  than 
light.  But  as  only  light  came,  did  the  "cause" 
bring  it  or  did  it  come  with  its  own  velocity?  If 
a  "  cause"  or  unknown  force  brought  it,  then  we 
have  a  new  force  in  nature  which  the  scientists 
must  reckon  with.  So  they  must  accept  the  alter- 
native and  either  change  the  speed  of  light  or  deal 
with  a  new  and  unknown  force. 

In  addition  to  the  above  complications,  Prof.  J. 
J.  Thomson,  discovered  (1901),  the  electric  ions 
or  corpuscles  which  is  considered  a  new  form  of 
matter  and  force. 

The  discovery  of  these  electric  ions  or  corpuscles 
a  thousand  times  smaller  than  atoms  has  pro- 
duced utter  confusion  in  the  scientific  world,  and 
outside  of  the  electric  theory  of  creation  they  can 
make  no  possible  explanation  of  them. 

The  fact  is,  the  scientists  are  on  an  island  of  doubt, 
in  a  sea  of  uncertainty,  scanning  with  telescope, 
microscope  and  spectroscope  the  ocean  of  foggy 
knowledge  and  dubious  assumed  facts  to  find  a 
port  of  safety. 

Their  attempts  to  fix  the  specific  gravity  of  the 
sun,  and  the  sun's  burning  up  and  shrinkage  as  its 
source  of  heat,  and  the  heat  as  the  life  of  '  the 
planets;  their  treatment  of  heat  as  an  entity  and 
substance,  when  it  is  merely  a  sensation;  their  re- 
liance on  the  spectroscope  to  indicate  heat  in  dis- 
tant suns,  and  their  accepting  gravity  without  a 
cause  or  an  explanation,  show  the  blind  for  centuries 
have  led  the  blind  in  extravagant  guessing. 


138  THE  UNIVERSE 

But  since  they  have  seen  an  electric  battery  and  an 
arc  light,  they  should  be  ashamed  to  ever  declare 
"the  sun  is  hotter  than  any  terrestrial  furnace,"  or 
that  it  is  hot  at  all.  The  arc  and  incandescent 
lights  are  object  lessons  they  ought  to  study,  for 
they  will  see  almost  an  exact  representation  of  how 
all  light,  heat  and  vital  force  are  created  on  suns 
and  planets. 

They  will  see  two  wires,  one  positive  and  the 
other  negative,  brought  together  or  so  near  together 
that  in  order  to  complete  their  electric  circuit  they 
must  pass  through  a  little  space  of  resisting  air, 
which  is  a  non-conductor,  and  then  they  burst 
into  light  and  moderate  heat.  In  the  same  manner 
the  positive  and  negative  currents  of  electricity  of 
the  sun  and  earth,  without  wires,  come  together  in 
our  atmosphere,  which  is  near  the  earth's  surface 
a  dense  resisting  non-conductor,  and  in  order  to 
complete  the  circuit  they  burst  into  light,  heat  and 
vital  force  and  give  life  and  energy  to  all  animal 
and  vegetable  organisms.  But  the  heat  must  be  and 
is  generally  moderate,  as  no  vegetable  or  animal  life 
can  exist  in  excessive  heat.  And  as  excessive  heat 
means  ruin  and  decay,  therefore  no  burning  sun 
can  furnish  light  or  give  life  and  growth  to  any 
planet. 

Prof.  Simon  Newcomb,  the  learned  astronomer, 
says:  "The  sun  is -not  a  solid  body,  but  must  be 
liquid  or  gaseous,  at  least  at  its  surface."  He 
gives  this  singular  reason,  therefore,  that  "the  sun's 
rotation  at  the  equator  is  completed  in  less  time 
than  at  a  distance  on  each  side  of  the  equator." 

I  question  both  the  fact  and  the  sufficiency  of  his 
reasoning  on  this  point.  According  to  his  own 


PRESENT  SCIENCE  IS  CHAOTIC  139 

statement,  the  sun  revolves  at  its  equator  4,000 
miles  an  hour,  or  over  a  mile  a  second,  while  it  re- 
volves very  slowly  near  its  poles  and  virtually  is  not 
in  motion  at  all  at  its  poles. 

This  rapid  motion  at  the  equator  and  slowness  of 
motion  near  the  centre  of  the  sun  is  calculated  to 
deceive  the  eye  and  make  it  think  it  completes  its 
rotation  at  its  equator  in  less  time  than  at  a  dis- 
tance from  it,  looking  down  along  the  slope  of  the 
sun's  vast  circumference.  This  is  no  evidence,  for 
we  see  only  the  moving  clouds  of  light  on  the  outer 
rim  of  the  sun's  atmosphere,  ten  to  twenty  thou- 
sand miles  or  more  from  its  surface,  and  they  seem 
to  and  do  complete  their  rotation  a  short  time 
sooner.  This  they  naturally  should  do.  How  frail 
and  uncertain  is  the  argument  based  on  such 
doubtful  and  assumed  facts? 

Thus  these  wise  astronomers  claim  from  this 
slim,  unreliable  evidence  and  the  assumed  excessive 
heat  of  the  sun,  that  the  sun  is  not  a  solid  body 
at  its  surface.  Yet  the  same  author  rejects  this 
same  evidence — that  Jupiter  is  not  a  solid  body — in 
the  following  language :  "The  difference  in  the  time 
of  Jupiter's  rotation  at  the  equator  and  in  middle 
latitudes  is,  so  far  as  we  yet  know,  about  five  min- 
utes. That  is  to  say,  the  equatorial  regions  rotate 
in  nine  hours  and  fifty  minutes  and  those  in  mid- 
dle latitudes  in  nine  hours  and  fifty-five  minutes, 
a  difference  amounting  to  200  miles  an  hour,  a 
seemingly  impossible  difference  were  the  surface 
liquid.  We  cannot  assume  this  to  be  the  case  with- 
out more  observations  than  are  yet  recorded,  as 
no  well  defined  law  of  rotation  in  different  latitudes 
has  yet  been  made  out."  Thus  this  learned  astron- 


140  THE  UNIVERSE 

omer  will  not  assume  for  Jupiter  what  he  assumed 
for  the  sun,  and  weakens  and  destroys  in  Jupiter 
the  very  same  arguments  he  used  to  prove  the  sun 
was  not  a  solid  body  at  its  surface. 

This  same  learned  astronomer — and  I  mention 
him  because  he  is  high  authority  and  has  written 
the  most  recent  work  on  astronomy — says  that, 
"under  the  enormous  pressure  of  the  earth,  con- 
tinually increasing  to  the  center,  the  matter  com- 
posing the  inner  portion  of  the  earth  is  compressed 
to  the  density  of  a  metal.  If  the  earth  were  com- 
posed of  a  fluid  or  even  of  a  substance  which  would 
bend  no  more  than  the  hardest  steel,  such  a  motion  as 
that  of  the  earth  upon  its  axis  would  be  impossible." 

I  accept  this  as  a  very  reasonable  conclusion, 
and  hold  the  same  rule  applies  to  the  sun,  and 
that  the  sun's  "enormous  pressure,  increasing  to 
its  center,"  would  compress  its  inner  portion  to  the 
density  of  a  metal;  and  that  the  sun  could  not 
revolve  upon  its  axis  and  retain  its  rigidity  as  it 
does  unless  its  inner  or  central  portion  was  as 
rigid  as  steel.  And  this  necessarily  means  that 
its  surface  is  about  as  solid  as  that  of  our  earth. 

Therefore  the  sun  cannot  be  molten  or  liquid 
at  its  surface,  as  the  scientific  guessers  have  prog- 
nosticated. As  they  have  guessed  wrong  about 
nine-tenths  of  the  time,  this  is  one  of  the  nine  hun- 
dred bad  guesses. 

Lord  Kelvin,  our  wisest  scientist,  a  few  years  ago 
estimated  that  our  earth,  only  fifty  miles  below  its 
surface,  was  a  molten  mass  of  fiery  metal.  Now, 
Simon  Newcomb  says  it  has  the  density  of  metal, 
and  is  as  hard  as  steel,  and  I  think  Lord  Kelvin 
has  changed  his  opinion  and  will  agree  with  him. 


PRESENT  SCIENCE  IS  CHAOTIC  141 

Thus  the  hoary-headed  superstition  that  the  cen- 
ter of  our  earth  was  a  molten  mass  is  passing 
away,  and  it  will  be  the  same  as  to  the  heat,  and 
molten  condition  of  the  sun — it  will  be  relegated  to 
the  plutonian  shades  of  ignorance  and  superstition. 

Because  there  were  numerous  volcanoes,  geysers 
and  hot  springs  scattered  over  the  crust  of  the  earth 
and  in  some  deep  mines  there  were  hot  sections, 
the  scientists  jumped  at  the  conclusion  that  the 
inner  portions  of  the  earth  were  a  molten,  fiery 
mass.  This  was  to  accord  with  their  false  theory 
of  a  red-hot  molten  sun,  and  their  assertion  that 
the  earth  had  its  inception  as  a  fire  mist,  and  roll- 
ing ball  of  white-heated  gases.  But  the  scientists 
have  changed  their  theories  rapidly  in  recent  years. 
They  are  just  beginning  to  discover  that  there  are 
zones  of  heat  and  cold  beneath  the  earth's  surface 
just  as  there  are  above  its  surface.  That  there  are 
electric  currents  of  heat  in  volcanic  regions  and 
mineral  and  mining  sections,  and  none  in  others, 
and  even  in  the  same  mines  there  are  warm  and 
cold  sections. 

Take  the  Cornstalk  mines  in  Nevada.  A  section 
2,300  feet  below  the  surface  is  very  warm,  while 
another  section  1,200  deeper— being  3,500  feet  be- 
low the  surface — is  very  cool.  Surely  Lord  Kelvin 
would  now  laugh  at  himself  to  think  he  made  such 
a  calculation  of  the  heat  of  the  earth  and  said  it 
was  a  molten  mass  of  fire  fifty  miles  below  its 
surface.  And  he  even  said  it  was  so  hot  seven 
miles  down  in  the  earth  that  water  could  only  re- 
main or  exist  in  a  state  of  vapor. 

Ye  gods  !  When  so  great  a  prophet  makes  such 
mistakes,  surely  the  little  prophets  that  walk  in  his 


142  THE  UNIVERSE 

footsteps  ought  to  "go  'way  back  and  sit  down," 
and  cease  talking  about  the  heat  of  the  sun. 

They  should  quit  telling  us  the  Beneficent  Creator 
is  burning  up  18,000,000  of  his  most  magnificent 
and  beautiful  worlds  to  heat  his  little,  insignificant 
planets.  They  estimate  our  sun  burns  up  thirty 
quintillion  cubic  feet  of  itself  annually,  and  18,000,- 
000  of  suns  are  doing  the  same,  making  the  equiva- 
lent of  a  world  destroyed  every  year  and  a  sun  every 
decade. 

These  statements  are  so  unreasonable  and  appal- 
ling they  refute  themselves.  I  mean  no  disrespect  for 
these  learned  but  misguided  scientists  who  have  for 
two  hundred  years  built  all  their  theories  on  heat, 
which  Langley  now  says  truthfully  is  nothing  but 
a  sensation.  Thus  they  built  the  universe  on  a 
sensation,  and  to  sustain  the  old  traditions  they 
want  to  keep  it  there.  They  said  the  earth  be- 
gan in  heat,  that  it  was  a  ball  of  fire  a  few  miles 
below  its  surface,  and  the  suns  were  great  flaming 
furnaces  burning  up  with  quenchless  fire.  They  made 
the  Great  Creator  a  fire  demon  and  world  destroyer. 

If  Prof.  Parker's  testimony  is  to  be  relied  on, 
nine-tenths  of  them  waste  their  time  on  useless 
calculations  and  data.  They  have  a  wonderful 
faculty  of  putting  the  horse  before  the  cart.  For  ex- 
ample, Prof.  Huston  of  Princeton,  says.  "Electricity 
is  being  constantly  produced  during  the  phenomena 
of  every  day  life.  It  is  produced  by  chemical  action, 
differences  of  temperature,  the  motion  of  condtict- 
ors  and  magnets  and  the  various  physical  and 
chemical  processes  that  occur  during  the  life  and 
growth  of  plants  and  animals."  Now,  this  is  mis- 
leading, because  it  states  facts  backward.  It  is 


PRESENT  SCIENCE  IS  CHAOTIC  143 

not  true  that  electricity  is  being  produced  in  the  sense 
he  uses  it  by  these  phenomena.  These  phenomena 
are  being  produced  by  electricity.  They  are  the 
manifestations  of  electricity.  Electricity  is  the  cause ; 
they  are  the  sequence  or  results,  and  he  should  say 
electricity  is  manifested  by  these  things.  The  same 
author  says :  "The  earth  is  to  be  considered  as  one 
huge  magnet."  This  is  very  true,  and  as  a  great 
magnet  does  not  need  to  be  hot  to  generate  elec- 
tric life-giving  energy,  no  astronomer  ought  to 
look  at  an  electric  light  or  an  electric  battery  with- 
out blushing  that  he  ever  called  the  sun  hot. 

Electricity  can  be  generated  without  burning  coal 
or  wood  or  the  use  of  a  furnace.  The  turbine  wheels 
that  are  turned  by  the  waters  of  Niagara  Falls,  with- 
out heat  or  furnace,  can  generate  a  hundred  thou- 
sand horse  power. 

The  placing  of  two  or  three  pieces  of  metal  one 
above  another  with  a  moist  substance  between  them 
will  create  a  voltaic  battery.  And  mines  of  two  or 
three  kinds  of  metals  or  ores,  when  clay  or  any  soft 
substance  between  them  become  moist,  will  create 
a  battery  that  will  tear  up  the  earth  for  miles  and 
produce  a  geyser  or  an  earthquake. 

Prof.  Proctor  agrees  with  Langley  in  rejecting 
the  nebular  hypothesis,  when  he  says  :  "Under  the 
continual  rain  of  meteoric  matter  the  earth,  sun 
and  planets  are  growing.  And  the  formation  of 
the  solar  system  resulted  from  the  aggregations  of 
vast  meteoric  and  cometic  systems  rotating  through 
space  has  greater  support  from  what  is  now  going 
on,  and  is  far  more  satisfactory  than  the  nebular 
hypothesis  of  La  Place.  The  nebular  hypothesis 
affords  no  explanation  of  the  strange  variety  of 


144  THE  UNIVERSE 

size  in  the  planetary  system,  variations  of  inclina- 
tion among  the  planets,  or  the  retrograde  and  al- 
most perpendicular  motion  of  the  satellites  of  Uranus 
and  Neptune.  A  general  explanation  of  all  these 
matters  is  at  once  suggested  by  their  origin  from 
aggregations  of  meteoric  systems."  This  agrees 
with  the  electric  theory  of  creation. 

All  the  Newton-La  Place  theories  of  gravitation 
and  the  nebular  hypothesis  are  now  called  in  question 
by  our  wisest  astronomers.  And  one  of  them  has 
pointed  out  two  hundred  instances  in  which  gravita- 
tion is  set  aside  and  ignored  in  the  motion  of  the 
heavenly  bodies.  Such  instances  as  the  runaway 
stars,  the  retrograde  motion  of  satellites,  the  repul- 
sion of  comets  from  the  sun,  and  so  on  ad  infinitum. 
And  as  to  the  outer  planets,  Uranus,  Neptune,  Ju- 
piter and  Saturn,  being  older  than  the  inner  planets 
and  being  thrown  off  first  from  the  vast  whirling 
sun  nebula  of  La  Place's  imagination,  all  modern 
astronomers  either  call  it  in  question  or  reject  it, 
as  a  fallacy  disproved  by  more  recent  facts  and  dis- 
coveries. It  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  there 
are  zones  of  electric  energy  in  space  in  each  solar 
system  which  may  help  to  hold  and  keep  each  planet 
in  its  orbit,  just  as  there  are  belts  and  currents 
of  electricity  in  the  atmosphere  and  outer  crusts  of 
earth  and  planets.  And  the  sun  may  send  a  differ- 
ent kind  of  electricity  to  each  planet  and  receive 
a  different  kind  from  each  planet. 

Abbe  Moreau,  the  noted  French  astronomer,  in 
supporting  Col.  du  Ligondes,  who  opposes  the  La 
Place  theory  of  the  formation  of  the  solar  system, 
in  a  recent  article,  April,  1902,  undertakes  to  show 
that  Mars  is  not  older  than  the  earth,  as  held  by 


PRESENT  SCIENCE  is  CHAOTIC  145 

the  La  Place  nebular  theory,  but  on  the  contrary 
is  much  younger.  His  arguments  entirely  demolish 
the  nebular  theory  that  the  outer  planets  were 
thrown  off  in  successive  rings  of  nebula  from  the 
sun,  and  therefore  the  outer  planets  are  the  older. 
In  addition,  Flammarion  seems  to  take  the  same 
position,  for  he  says :  "In  Mars  two  moons  revolve 
rapidly  in  the  heavens  in  opposite  directions,  which 
seems  to  refute  the  nebular  hypothesis."  These  all 
tend  to  support  my  electrical  theories,  and  relegate 
the  Newton-La  Place  theories  to  the  shades  of  ob- 
solete fancy  and  mistaken  conjecture. 

Flammarion  also  says :  "The  earth  in  its  orbit 
describes  a  spiral,  and  since  its  creation  has  never 
passed  twice  through  the  same  point  in  space." 
This  also  supports  my  electrical  theory  of  globular 
spheres  and  spiral  motion  in  space  to  accord  with 
the  laws  of  electro-magnetic  energy.  This  spiral 
shape  of  the  earth's  orbit,  I  contend,  and  not  the 
tilting  of  its  poles,  creates  the  changes  of  seasons. 
Its  poles  seem  to  tilt  or  change  because  the  earth 
passes  above  and  below  the  line  of  the  ecliptic,  and 
in  its  spiral  circuit  has  the  sun  above  the  earth 
part  of  the  year,  when  it  is  summer  in  the  north 
temperate  zone,  and  below  it  part  of  the  year  when 
it  is  summer  in  the  south  temperate.  And  the 
elliptical  shape  of  the  earth's  orbit  is,  I  contend, 
caused  by  the  sun  being  in  motion,  which  lengthens 
the  circle  of  the  orbit  in  the  direction  the  sun  is 
traveling  and  causes  the  earth  to  be  four  million 
miles  nearer  it  when  it  turns  in  front  of  it,  and  the 
same  distance  farther  from  it  when  it  turns  in  the 
same  direction  the  sun  is  traveling.  It  seems  strange 
that  no  astronomers  have  thought  of  these  things. 
10 


146  THE  UNIVERSE 

Sir  Robert  Ball  said  recently  :  "The  most  important 
advance  in  astronomy  was  Prof.  Keeler's  discovery 
of  nebulae  in  such  enormous  numbers,  and  the  fact 
that  most  of  them  were  in  a  spiral  shape."  This 
spiral  shape  accords  with  the  law  of  electro-mag- 
netism and  sustains  the  theory  of  electrical  creation 
of  suns  and  planets.  Matter  could  not  be  gathered 
under  any  other  law. 

In  addition  to  the  contradictions  and  complica- 
tions of  science  already  mentioned,  scarcely  a  funda- 
mental principle  or  concept  remains.  One  of  the 
eternal  indisputable  postulates  of  science  was  that 
"two  bodies  cannot  occupy  the  same  space  at  the 
same  time."  But  that  is  exploded,  and  we  know 
they  do  and  we  have  proof  of  it  every  day.  There 
are  numerous  instances ;  I  will  mention  only  one  : 
Twenty-eight  electric  currents  can  pass  over  the  same 
wire  at  the  same  time,  fourteen  one  way  and  four- 
teen the  other,  and  occupy  the  same  space  and  do 
not  interfere  with  one  another. 

Scientists  used  to  put  great  stress  on  solid  matter, 
and  their  primary  division  of  matter  was  into  solid, 
liquid  and  gaseous.  They  have  recently  discovered 
there  is  no  such  thing  as  solid  matter.  What  they 
termed  solid  matter  is  but  the  outer  and  visible 
shell  of  invisible  forces.  That  not  a  single  atom  of 
matter  touches  another  atom  of  matter;  but  there 
is  a  space  between  them,  and  the  atoms  revolve 
around  each  other  in  very  much  the  same  way  as 
the  earth  revolves  around  the  sun,  thus  showing 
that  the  laws  of  electro-magnetism  are  the  same  in 
atoms  as  in  worlds. 

The  scientists  only  discovered  the  non-solidity  of 
matter  since  the  use  of  the  X-rays,  and  the  Crookes 


PRESENT  SCIENCE  IS  CHAOTIC  147 

tube,  and  they  have  been  puzzled  ever  since  to 
know  what  holds  the  atoms  or  molecules  together 
in  organized  form.  They  undertake  to  say  it  is 
gravity,  but  gravity  is  weight,  and  atoms  have  no 
weight,  and  they  are  forced  to  look  to  electricity 
and  magnetism  to  solve  the  question.  And  the  elec- 
tric theory  gives  the  only  rational  explanation,  which 
is,  that  all  things  are  held  together  by  magnetic 
attraction  or  cohesion  under  the  laws  of  organic 
affinity.  The  molecules  of  iron,  stone  and  marble 
do  not  touch  each  other,  but  their  magnetic  at- 
traction is  stronger  than  that  of  wood  or  hay; 
that  is  why  they  have  more  solidity,  strength  and 
endurance.  Science  said  we  could  not  look  through 
a  grindstone  or  any  solid  matter,  but  we  can.  We 
can  look  through  men,  grindstones,  iron  and  brick 
walls,  and  if  we  could  turn  on  sufficient  electric  power 
we  could  look  through  the  earth  and  take  photo- 
graphs of  Chinamen  on  the  other  side  of  the 
globe. 

Prof.  Serviss,  in  the  New  York  Jornal  of  October 
1st,  1902,  calls  attention  to  "the  remarkable  growth 
of  speculation  concerning  electric  or  electro-magnetic 
influences  exercised  over  the  earth  by  the  sun  and 
planets,"  and  says  :  "They  have  been  seized  upon 
by  astrological  soothsayers  to  bolster  up  their 
pretended  science." 

As  I  have  never  taken  any  interest  in  astrology, 
but  have  taken  great  interest  in  the  electro-magnetic 
power  of  the  sun,  I  am  surprised  at  the  obtuseness 
that  would  undertake  to  blend  them  together  when 
they  have  no  scientific  relation. 

Astrology  undertakes  to  reveal  the  future  by  the 
position  and  influence  of  the  stars,  and  is  entirely 


148  THE  UNIVERSE 

different  from  any  electrical  theory  of  the  sun  or 
planets. 

He 'says,  "The  subject  of  the  sun's  electric  influence 
is  of  absorbing  interest,  but  there  is  no  solid  scien- 
tific basis  for  a  genuine  theory." 

From  the  lack  of  knowledge  he  displays  of  the 
well-known  laws  of  electricity  I  am  not  surprised  at 
his  statement.  He  says  and  illustrates  it  by  a 
diagram :  "If  we  grant  the  sun  does  act  as  a  stu- 
pendous source  of  electro-magnetic  waves,  as  the 
planets  circle  about  the  sun  in  nearly  a  common 
plane,  and  sometimes  lie  practically  in  the  common 
plane  in  a  straight  line,  in  such  a  contingency  there 
may  be  a  stream  of  electric  energy  linking  them  all 
together."  He  seems  to  think  this  would  produce 
confusion  and  settle  the  whole  question. 

He  should  know  that  the  simplest  law  of  electro- 
magnetism  teaches  that  the  electric  attraction  of 
every  planet  is  the  measure  of  its  power  in  drawing 
the  electric  currents  of  the  sun.  Distance  from  or 
nearness  to  the  sun  or  planets  or  their  being  scat- 
tered or  all  on  the  same  plane  or  in  a  straight  line 
has  nothing  to  do  with  the  supply  of  electric  power 
from  the  sun. 

Each  receives  the  positive  electricity  from  the  sun, 
which  it  draws  by  reason  of  its  negative  polarity. 
He  should  know  that  twenty-eight  currents  of  elec- 
tricity may  pass  over  the  same  wire  at  the  same 
time,  fourteen  one  way  and  fourteen  the  other  way, 
and  do  not  interfere  with  one  another,  and  each  go 
to  their  separate  destinations.  The  sun  may  send 
a  different  electric  current  or  vibration  to  each 
planet  and  nothing  in  the  universe  could  prevent 
it  from  reaching  that  planet.  It  would  pass  through 


PRESENT  SCIENCE  IS  CHAOTIC  149 

or  go  round  any  other  planet  or  substance  in  its 
way. 

Wireless  electricity  is  founded  on  the  basic  prin- 
ciple that  an  electric  current  goes  only  to  the  op- 
posite electric  polarity  and  vibration  which  draws 
and  attracts  it  or  is  attuned  to  it. 

Prof.  Serviss  says :  "If  I  examined  this  subject 
with  a  show  of  interest,  it  draws  upon  me  sour  and 
suspicious  looks  from  my  scientific  friends."  He 
should  remember  that  all  great  truths  have  had  to 
struggle  with  "sour  and  suspicious  looks,"  ever 
since  man  began  to  investigate,  and  that  we  must 
look  not  to  authority  for  truth,  but  to  truth  for 
authority. 

He  said,  in  the  summer  of  1901,  the  sun  was  a 
furnace  and  the  black  spots  the  open  door  of  the 
furnace,  and  we  would  have  four  years  of  torrid 
heat  on  account  of  those  black  spots ;  but  he  proved 
himself  a  false  prophet,  like  the  rest.  But  he  is  not 
to  blame;  he  only  followed  the  old  traditions  and 
scientific  authority,  and  they  proved  to  be  a  broken 
reed  on  which  he  leaned.  I  mention  him  because 
he  is  an  able  and  recent  writer  on  astronomy. 

That  science  is  at  present  unintelligible  and  almost 
chaotic  to  the  masses  of  fairly  educated  people 
is  too  true  for  superfluous  argument.  The  old  farm- 
er's definition  of  bacilli  is  a  fair  sample  of  the 
nebulous  condition  of  many  minds  on  scientific 
subjects.  He  said  they  were  "little  critters  from  the 
back  cellar  that  floated  in  the  air,  called  germs  in 
Germany,  parasites  in  Paris,  and  microbes  in  Ire- 
land." Many  intelligent  people  deplore  the  pro- 
lific use  of  useless  technical  terms  and  dry  statistics 
of  most  scientific  works,  and  their  use  makes  them 


150  THE  UNIVERSE 

exclaim  with  Portia,  "My  little  body  is  aweary 
of  this  great  world." 

I  find  a  very  sensible  editorial  in  the  New  York 
American  of  April  18th,  1903,  entitled  "Science 
Needs  Another  Interpreter."  It  says  :  "Science  is 
moving  too  fast  for  the  ordinary  layman,  who 
would  like  to  keep  pace  with  its  theories  and  dis- 
coveries  Chemistry  and  physics  needs  a  man 

who  will  do  for  them  what  Huxley  did  for  biology — 
a  man  who  has  not  only  a  scientific  mind  but  a  lit- 
erary capacity Vaguely  the  layman  knows 

there  have  been  all  sorts  of  discoveries  since  the 
X-rays  showed  him  there  was  a  way  of  seeing 
through  a  grindstone. 

"But  he  had  the  idea  of  X-rays  only  partially  di- 
gested when  science  came  on  him  with  the  cathode 
rays  and  crowned  the  confusion  by  discovering 
radium.  With  a  mind  dazzled  by  light  rays  that  are 
invisible,  and  invisible  rays  that  are  not  light,  and 
bewildered  by  being  told  of  a  substance  that  gives 
off  terrific  energy  without  loss  of  bulk  or  power, 
he  lays  away  the  natural  philosophy  of  his  college 
days  and  reaches  blindly  for  what  the  new  men 
have  written  of  these  things. 

"He  is  then  confronted  with  w^hat  reads  like  a  cata- 
logue of  fossil  insects  diversified  by  stepladder 
algebraic  formulas,  the  mere  parenthesis  of  which 
are  enough  to  make  a  school  teacher  shudder.  The 
wretched  seeker  after  knowledge  is  confronted  with 
measurements  of  light  waves  until  sunbeams  are 
powerless  to  illuminate  the  day.  Similarly  he  gath- 
ers from  the  fugitive  words  he  understands  among 
the  mass  that  has  no  meaning  for  him,  that  Prof. 
Loeb  has  been  putting  salt  on  eggs  and  creating 


PRESENT  SCIENCE  IS  CHAOTIC  151 

sea-urchins,  to  the  utter  distraction  of  the  rules  of 
nature's  game  as  he  has  learned  them. 

"Somewhere  there  must  exist  the  man  whose 
skill  with  the  pen  and  whose  appreciation  of  knowl- 
edge are  equal  to  the  task  of  acting  as  interpreter 

between  scientists  and  the  world The  world 

is  hungrier  for  knowledge  than  it  is  for  amusement, 
and  the  sales  of  the  books  of  the  man  who  suc- 
ceeds in  making  science  readable  will  make  the  re- 
turns of  even  the  most  popular  novelist  small  in 
comparison." 

This  splendid  editorial  states  facts  graphically  and 
truly,  and  portrays  the  real  condition  of  things. 
It  shows  a  scientific  chaos,  which  portends  a  transi- 
tion state,  and  a  rapid  evolution  from  the  old  tra- 
ditions to  a  new  and  more  perfect  science.  With- 
out meaning  to  be  egotistic  or  to  assume  any  su- 
perior knowledge,  or  to  have  any  of  the  qualities 
suggested  in  the  editorial,  I  am  impelled  to  suggest 
that  if  there  are  persons  befogged  scientifically,  if 
they  will  read  The  Cities  of  the  Sun,  I  think  their 
minds  will  be  clarified  on  many  points  and  many  of 
the  old  scientific  traditions  will  fade  into  the  noth- 
ingness from  which  they  came. 

I  am  glad  to  welcome  so  able  a  champion  of  the 
electrical  theory  as  Mr.  Cope  Whitehouse,  who 
achieved  fame  by  discovering  that  the  depression 
in  the  Egyptian  desert  could  be  used  for  irrigation, 
and  which  the  English  Government  is  now  utilizing. 

This  New  York  scientist  says,  in  an  interview  in 
the  Kansas  City  Star  of  Dec.  2d,  1902  :  "The  Eng- 
lish scientists  have  partially  reduced  our  solar  sys- 
tem to  a  machine,  and  assigned  to  Deity  little  less 
than  the  duty  of  squeezing  heat  from  the  sun  or 


153  THE  UNIVERSE 

stoking  it  with  aerolites.  Such  theories  are  made 
for  sale  and  not  for  science.  When  Newton  sug- 
gested that  gravity  might  swing  the  moon  as  well 
as  attract  an  apple  to  the  ground,  he  knew  nothing 
of  electricity.  He  might  have  observed  however, 
that  a  comet  never  enters  the  sun  and  therefore 
could  not  have  been  attracted  by  it. 

"A  comet,  as  it  closely  approaches  its  supposed 
goal,  changes  its  direction  and  darts  away,  tail  fore- 
most, in  a  curved  path  due  to  a  resistance  too  feeble 
to  obstruct  its  passage.  No  allowance  is  made 
for  the  attraction  of  gravitation  in  wireless  teleg- 
raphy, and  the  most  superficial  observations  in 
ozology,  or  the  science  of  smell,  show  that  there  is 
a  force  in  odors  which  ignores  gravitation. 

"We  have  reason  for  supposing  that  gravitation 
is  a  purely  local  affair,  and  heat  and  light  do  not 
emanate  from  the  sun.  Heat  comes  from  the  earth, 
and  the  light  from  the  atmosphere,  precisely  as  the 
film  in  an  incandescent  lamp  is  heated  by  the  re- 
sistance it  offers  to  the  electric  current,  and  light 
is  produced  by  the  vibration  of  the  motes  in  the 
air." 

"The  only  fact  established  beyond  doubt  regard- 
ing the  sun  and  planets  is  their  revolution  on  their 
axes,  and  this  is  all  that  is  needed  to  generate 
light  and  heat.  They  are  arc  dynamos  and  each 
in  turn  transmits  what  it  receives  to  its  neighbors 
on  the  circuit."  This  accords  with  my  theory  pub- 
lished five  years  previously.  He  continues  :  "We  do 
not  see  the  stars,  nor  even  the  sun. 

"The  astronomer  who  claims  that  his  eye  pene- 
trates space  billions,  trillions  and  decillions  of  miles 
stultifies  himself  in  the  next  breath  by  declaring 


PRESENT  SCIENCE  IS  CHAOTIC  153 

that  worlds  and  solar  systems  are  being  formed  of 
cosmic  dust.  Was  the  polestar  ever  obscured  by 
the  interposition  of  a  world  in  formation  ?  Yet  the 
film  formed  by  the  breath  of  the  observer  on  the 
eyepiece  of  a  telescope  would  obscure  Jupiter.  Evi- 
dently, therefore,  we  no  more  see  a  star  than  we 
see  a  distant  power  house  that  supplies  electricity 
to  trolley  lines.  We  only  see  the  end  of  the  stellar 
or  solar  ray  where  it  enters  the  bubble  of  which  the 
earth  is  the  center. 

"It  is  strange  that  no  astronomer  has  ever  here- 
tofore observed  that  the  magnifying  power  of  a 
lens,  two  inches  in  diameter  could  have  no  ap- 
preciable effect  on  an  object  as  remote  as  Saturn. 
Yet  the  ring  and  the  satellites  of  this  planet  are 
thus  made  visible.  In  short,  there  is  a  kind  of 
screen  which  presents  the  image  of  stars,  as  on  a  sheet 
between  the  observer  and  the  magic  lantern  at  an 
exhibition.  The  image  can  be  magnified  but  their 
distance  is  perhaps  scarcely  fifty  inches." 

In  regard  to  the  eruptions  of  Mont  Pelee  he  says  : 
"Within  twenty  miles  of  the  earth  there  is  a  cold  as 
intense  as  liquid  air.  Differences  of  temperature  can 
be  converted  into  an  electric  flash,  as  electricity 
can  be  converted  into  heat.  The  so-called  eruption 
of  Mont  Pelee  was  purely  electrical.  The  sympa- 
thetic eruption  of  La  Soufriere  was  partly  due  to 
an  interrupted  circuit  and  partly  an  induced  cur- 
rent. There  was  no  flow  of  lava,  but  can  any  one 
imagine  the  crater  discharging  what  was  said  to 
have  issued  from  it?  ....  When  there  is  an  accu- 
rate statement  of  facts  it  will  be  found  that  neither 
dust  nor  gas  came  from  the  volcano.  Really,  only 
mud,  hot  water,  smoke  and  stones  were  ejected. 


154  THE  UNIVERSE 

This  material  descended  as  a  thin  covering  of  uni- 
form thickness.  And  this  blanket  was  the  dust 
precipitated  by  the  electrical  vibration  still  warm 
from  crystallization.  Had  it  been  otherwise  there 
would  have  been  about  one  hundred  million  tons 
of  frozen  mud  falling  in  the  neighborhood. 

"What  Pere  Mary  saw  was  the  cloud  of  decom- 
posed matter  caused  by  the  electric  discharges.  It 
is  as  absurd  to  speak  of  all  this  coming  out  of  the 
volcano  as  it  would  be  to  say  that  the  smoke  and 
stifling  gases  in  a  fire  caused  by  an  electric  wire 
came  from  the  power  house.  As  a  fuse  burned 
out  in  the  circuit,  Pelee  simply  sparked. 

"It  set  fire  to  everything  between  its  summit  and 
the  sea,  and  the  surface  of  the  water  itself  was  made 
warm.  Now  you  see  how  mastodons  are  found, 
with  hair  and  flesh  intact,  imbedded  in  Siberian  ice. 
If  the  uprush  of  an  air  current  would  disturb  the 
cold  stratum  above  a  chimney,  what  would  be  the 
effect  of  the  upheaval  of  a  mountain  mass  with  or 
without  a  volcano?  It  is  unnecessary  to  suppose 
that  the  axis  of  the  earth  has  changed. 

"The  ice  crop  of  the  Antarctic  is  much  larger  than 
that  of  the  North  Pole,  but  the  volcanoes  of  Erebus 
and  Terror  are  in  violent  activity.  There  are  scores 
of  terrestrial  and  celestial  phenomena,  from  the 
double  tide  to  the  cold  moon,  that  can  be  explained 
only  by  the  electrical  theory" 

Thus  I  could  fill  a  book  with  the  recent  proofs 
and  statements  of  scientists  which  sustain  the  elec- 
tric theory. 

The  dropping  of  an  icicle  into  a  barrel  of  un- 
slaked lime  once  caused  a  great  disaster  in  one 
of  our  cities.  The  slaking  of  the  lime  caused  a 


PRESENT  SCIENCE  IS  CHAOTIC  155 

fire.  The  firemen  came  and  the  more  water  they 
used  the  greater  was  the  heat  generated,  until  an 
explosion  wrecked  the  neighborhood.  In  like  manner, 
water  in  the  fissures  of  the  earth  act  chemically 
upon  various  minerals  and  produce  similar  results. 
Two  or  three  layers  of  different  metals  in  the  earth 
produce  a  galvanic  battery  and  results  in  the  dis- 
aster of  a  volcanic  explosion  or  an  earthquake. 

A  silver  dollar,  a  twenty-dollar  gold  piece,  and  a 
piece  of  copper  of  similar  size,  placed  one  on  top  of 
the  other,  with  pieces  of  moist  paper  blotter  be- 
tween them,  will  generate  sufficient  electricity  to 
send  a  telegram.  Two  iron  tablespoons  tied  to- 
gether with  a  piece  of  copper  wire  and  their  ends 
dipped  in  water  will  generate  an  electric  current  suf- 
ficient to  send  a  cablegram  across  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 
So  says  Prof.  Trobridge  of  Harvard.  If  this  is 
true,  what  a  fearful  volcano  or  earthquake  may  be 
produced  by  water  moistening  the  clay  or  substance 
between  the  thousands  of  acres  of  different  mines  or 
metals  one  above  the  other  in  the  outer  crust  of 
the  earth? 

These  things  are  marvelous  to  contemplate  and 
paralyze  the  imagination. 


CHAPTER  X 

ELECTRICAL    CREATION    EXPLAINS    NATURAL 
PHILOSOPHY 

HERBERT  SPENCER  says  :  '  'Science  is  partially  uni- 
fied knowledge;  philosophy  is  completely  unified 
knowledge,"  and  the  first  knowledge  obtained  by 
primitive  man  was  that  of  sense  and  inference  from 
such  experience.  Later  there  arose  a  disposition  to 
speculate  as  to  that  which  lies  beyond  sense  and 
known  only  by  its  effect  on  sensible  things.  This 
speculative  propensity  is  worthy  of  the  highest  con- 
sideration as  a  means  of  knowledge.  It  has  de- 
veloped all  of  the  numerous  systems  of  philosophy 
which  have  flourished  in  the  history  of  the  human 
race. 

First  in  the  order  of  development  comes  the 
knowledge  of  things  through  the  direct  experience  of 
physical  sense,  then  comes  imagination,  reasoning, 
theoretic  science  and  speculative  philosophy. 

The  object  of  all  systems  of  philosophy  is  to  com- 
prehend and  teach  the  truth  about  the  world  around 
us,  especially  that  part  supposed  to  exist  beyond 
the  range  of  our  senses,  and  to  prescribe  what  is 
right  and  good  in  the  life  of  man. 

In  modern  times  the  attempt  to  unite  all  the 
sciences  into  a  general  system  has  been  made  by 
August  Comte  in  France,  and  Herbert  Spencer  in 
England.  According  to  Comte,  it  was  time  wasted 


EXPLAINS  NATURAL  PHILOSOPHY  157 

and  labor  lost  to  attempt  to  explain  the  cause  of 
gravity,  chemical  affinity,  and  electric  and  mag- 
netic attraction  and  repulsion. 

The  atomic  theory  of  the  constitution  of  matter, 
the  conception  of  an  interstellar  ether,  the  undula- 
tory  theory  of  light  and  heat  were  all  cast  aside  as 
useless  and  unworthy  of  notice  because  they  were 
not  directly  observable  and  the  senses  unaided 
could  not  apprehend  them. 

According  to  Comte,  the  only  object  of  science 
and  philosophy  is  to  observe,  record  and  classify 
sensible  phenomena.  What  could  not  be  observed 
by  the  senses  could  not  be  known  and  did  not 
exist.  It  is  said  the  only  open  road  to  the  advance 
of  philosphy  was  thus  forbidden  by  the  man  who 
made  the  first  valuable  contribution  to  its  advance- 
ment. 

Herbert  Spencer  first  undertook  the  great  task  of 
discovering  the  unifying  principle  of  nature.  He 
recognized  all  possible  phenomena  as  parts  of  one 
great  whole,  and  held  that  all  were  united  by  nat- 
ural law.  He  differed  from  Comte  in  that  he  recog- 
nized the  imperceptible  as  a  reality,  but  made  no 
attempt  to  explain  it  or  to  bring  it  into  harmony 
with  the  phenomena  of  sense,  but  designated  it 
the  unknowable.  He  divided  his  system  into  two 
general  divisions — the  knowable,  which  includes  all 
things  of  sense,  experience,  and  the  unknowable, 
which  includes  everything  else,  or  the  invisible  and 
imperceptible. 

He  held  the  knowable  is  the  proper  sphere  of 
man's  knowledge  or  philosophy,  and  the  unknowa- 
ble the  legitimate  domain  of  God  and  religion.  And 
while  he  held  that  God  and  religion  were  imper- 


158  THE  UNIVERSE 

ceptible  and  unknowable,  he  held  they  were  none 
the  less  a  truth  of  the  highest  degree  of  certainty. 
It  is  therefore  well  said  that  all  who  fear  the  down- 
fall of  religion  as  a  result  of  the  encroachments  of 
science  or  philosophy  may  thank  Herbert  Spencer 
for  placing  it  where  neither  science  or  philosophy 
can  touch  it. 

Upon  the  law  of  relativity  he  places  the  basis  of 
that  which  can  be  known,  and  that  which  cannot  be 
known.  He  says:  "We  think  in  relations.  This  is 

truly  the  form  of  all  thought On  analyzing 

the  process  of  thought  we  found  that  cognition  of 
the  absolute — the  unknowable — was  impossible  be- 
cause it  presents  neither  relations  nor  its  elements — 
difference  and  likeness.  Further  we  found  that  not 
only  intelligence  but  life  itself  consists  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  internal  relations  in  correspondence  with 
external  relations.  And  lastly,  it  was  shown  by  the 
relativity  of  our  thought  we  are  eternally  debarred 
from  knowing  or  conceiving  absolute  being,  yet 
that  this  relativity  of  our  thought  necessitates  that 
vague  consciousness  of  Absolute  Being  which  no 
mental  effort  can  suppress." 

It  is  apparent  that  these  propositions  contradict 
eack  other.  For,  if  from  the  relativity  of  thought  we 
are  eternally  debarred  from  knowing  or  conceiving 
Absolute  Being,  how  is  it  that  we  have  a  vague 
consciousness  of  this  same  Absolute  Being  which 
cannot  be  suppressed  ?  Consciousness  is  one  form  of 
knowledge.  Spencer,  thus  recognizing  the  reality  of 
the  unknowable,  regards  that  which  is  or  can  be 
known  as  different  manifestations  of  the  unknowable. 

These  manifestations  he  claims,  as  they  appear  in 
consciousness,  pass  through  a  double  series.  First, 


EXPLAINS  NATURAL  PHILOSOPHY  159 

a  vivid  series  which  includes  all  sense  experience, 
and  second,  a  faint  series  which  includes  thought, 
as  in  speculation  and  deliberation.  Force,  he  con- 
tends, is  the  ultimate  and  deepest  truth  of  the 
universe.  All  forms  of  consciousness,  lie  says,  are 
derived  as  experiences  of  force.  All  sense  experi- 
ences as  in  the  objective  series,  all  subjective  feeling 
or  thought,  everything  known  or  knowable,  is  a 
manifestation  of  the  one  universal  force  or  energy. 
This  universal  force,  I  contend,  is,  first,  spirit  or 
mind  force;  second,  electric  force  controlled  by  mind 
force. 

He  says  :  " Contemplating  pure  force,  we  are  ir- 
resistibly compelled  by  the  relativity  of  our  thought 
to  vaguely  conceive  some  unknown  force  as  the 
correlative  of  the  known  force."  This  unknown  or 
imperceptible  force  I  contend  is  electricity  and  the 
mental  force  back  of  it.  All  our  ideas  of  matter 
and  motion,  he  says,  are  ideas  of  force.  The  demon- 
strated fact  of  the  indestructibility  of  matter  is 
but  another  name  for  the  indestructibility  of  force. 

The  persistency  of  force  means  also  the  persistency 
of  motion.  All  forms  of  physical  energy — as  light, 
heat,  sound,  electricity,  magnetism,  chemical  action, 
gravity  and  sensible  motion — he  says,  are  different 
manifestations  of  force.  In  this  I  fully  agree  with 
him  and  claim  these  are  all  manifestations  of  the 
one  fundamental  force  in  nature — electricity. 

He  says  :  "Even  after  all  has  been  said,  many 
will  be  alarmed  by  the  assertion  that  the  forces  we 
designate  as  mental  come  within  the  same  general- 
ization. Yet  there  is  no  alternative  but  to  make 
this  assertion.  The  facts  which  justify  or  rather 
necessitate  it  being  abundant  and  conspicuous.  All 


160  "THE  UNIVERSE 

the  phenomena  of  mind  belong  to  the  same  class— 
the  phenomena  offeree." 

In  this  I  agree,  and  contend  that  the  mental  or 
spiritual  forces  are  the  most  potent  and  supreme 
forces  of  the  universe  and  control  all  other  forces, 
physical  and  electric,  and  are  the  ultimate  of  ulti- 
mates. 

He  says:  "The  various  forms  of  force  are  all 
changeable  into  one  another."  This  is  shown,  he 
says,  by  the  conservation  of  energy  and  the  cor- 
relation of  forces. 

This  accords  with  my  electrical  theory  of  creation, 
which  holds  that  there  is  but  one  physical  force  in 
the  universe— electricity— and  all  other  forces,  such 
as  light,  heat,  physical  life  and  so-called  gravita- 
tion, are  manifestations  of  this  one  fundamental 
force,  and  are  all  changeable  or  convertible  into 
one  another,  and  all  controlled  by  the  dominant 
force  of  mind  or  spirit.  In  other  words,  God  con- 
trols the  universe  as  man  controls  his  body.  Man 
controls  his  body  by  the  electric  energy  that  per- 
meates his  body  and  brain,  and  God  controls  the 
universe  by  the  electric  energy  that  permeates  all 
matter  and  space,  and  which  is  subjected  to  His 
Omnicient  Spirit  and  Omnipotent  Will. 

Herbert  Spencer  says  :  "An  entire  history  of  any- 
thing must  include  its  appearance  out  of  the  im- 
perceptible and  its  disappearance  into  the  imper- 
ceptible. Be  it  a  single  object  or  a  whole  universe, 
any  account  which  begins  with  it  in  a  concrete 
form  and  leaves  off  with  it  in  a  concrete  form  is 
incomplete,  since  there  remains  an  era  of  its  knowa- 
ble  existence  undescribed  and  unexplained." 

The  simplest  statement  of  this  fact,  according  to 


EXPLAINS  NATURAL  PHILOSOPHY  161 

my  theory,  is  that  all  visible  things  come  from  the 
great  invisible  sea  of  electro-magnetism  in  which  all 
things  exist,  which  he  calls  the  imperceptible,  and 
are  woven  by  magnetic  attraction  and  the  aggrega- 
tion of  billions  of  invisible  atoms  into  visible  forms. 
Then,  after  they  have  run  their  course  as  visible 
substances  or  organic  forms,  they  are  again  dis- 
solved back  into  this  invisible  sea  of  electro-mag- 
netism. Just  as  water  continually  changes  from 
solid  and  liquid  to  invisible  vapor  and  back  again, 
so  nature  continually  renews  and  purifies  her  ever- 
changing  molecules  but  changeless  atoms,  and  builds 
up  organic  forms  by  magnetic  attraction  and  dis- 
solves them  by  electric  repulsion.  I  contend  that 
matter  could  be  gathered  into  visible  form  in  no 
other  way  than  by  electric  attraction. 

The  life  period  of  all  visible  things  is  while  magnetic 
attraction  has  sway  and  is  paramount ;  the  death  or 
dissolution  period  is  when  electric  repulsion  predom- 
inates. The  blossoms  and  fruitage  of  summer  are 
samples  of  magnetic  life  from  the  sun  currents,  while 
the  decay  of  winter  is  a  sample  of  electric  repulsion 
and  dissolution. 

The  law  of  incessant  change,  he  says,  must  be  the 
unifying  principle  which  in  its  simplest  form  is  "the 
redistribution  of  matter  and  motion. ' '  Again  he  says  : 
"The  progress  from  the  most  diffused  and  insensible 
state  to  that  of  concentration  and  definition  is 
called  evolution,  and  is  attended  by  the  dissipation 
of  motion  and  the  integration  of  matter."  This 
I  call  the  law  of  electric  attraction.  "The  progress 
from  the  form  of  definition  to  that  of  diffusion," 
he  says,  "is  called  dissolution  and  is  attended  by 
an  absorption  of  motion  and  a  disintegration 
ii 


162  THE  UNIVERSE 

of  matter."  This  I  call  the  law  of  electric  repul- 
sion. 

"This,"  he  says,  "is  the  universal  law  of  evolu- 
tion and  dissolution  in  its  simplest  form."  And 
I  say  that  the  law  of  evolution  and  dissolution  in 
its  simplest  form  is  the  law  of  electric  attraction  and 
repulsion. 

Mr.  Spencer's  definition  is  complicated,  but  his 
process  is  substantially  correct.  Yet  he  offers  no 
explanation  of  this  natural  and  universal  process, 
while  my  electric  theory  of  creation  does,  and  makes 
his  universal  evolution  and  dissolution  simply  uni- 
versal electric  attraction  and  repulsion  under  the 
well-known  laws  of  electro-magnetism.  This  is  a 
great  advance,  a  gigantic  step  toward  the  explana- 
tion of  the  universe.  The  simplest  illustration  in 
physics  explains  both  theories.  For  instance,  dry 
steam,  he  says,  wil>  condense  to  its  liquid  form, 
water  by  permitting  the  dissipation  of  its  internal 
motion  in  the  process  of  cooling,  and  a  further 
dissipation  of  internal  motion  of  the  water  will  re- 
duce it  to  a  solid  form,  called  ice.  This  he  calls 
evolution,  but  he  does  not  state  what  produces  it. 
I  say  it  is  produced  by  electric  attraction. 

Then  he  says  the  mass  of  ice  thus  evolved  from 
impalpable  vapor  may  be  set  out  in '  the  sun  and 
gradually  melt,  by  the  absorption  of  motion  from 
the  sun,  into  water,  and  a  further  absorption  of  like 
motion  will  convert  it  into  invisible  vapor.  This 
he  calls  dissolution,  but  does  not  explain  it.  I  say 
it  is  the  result  of  the  law  of  electric  repulsion. 

He  speaks  of  the  absorption  of  motion.  I  contend 
there  can  be  no  absorption  of  motion,  but  only  an 
absorption  of  that  which  produces  motion,  which 


EXPLAINS  NATURAL  PHILOSOPHY  163 

is  electric  energy,  from  the  sun — the  electric  heart 
of  the  solar  system.  Motion,  I  contend,  is  not"  a 
cause  but  an  effect,  and  all  physical  motion  is  the 
result  of  electric  energy.  And  to  say  with  Tindall, 
that  light  and  heat  is  a  mode  of  motion  is  to 
state  an  absurdity,  for  motion  is  the  result  of  some 
force  operating  on  matter.  It  is  not  a  cause  but  an 
effect  produced  by  a  cause. 

I  explain  force  and  "the  redistribution  of  matter 
and  force"  as  the  product  or  the  result  of  the  uni- 
versal laws  of  electric  attraction  and  repulsion,  which 
control  atoms,  suns  and  worlds  and  all  matter  in 
body  and  space. 

Mr.  Spencer  offers  no  explanations  and  relegates 
all  to  the  convenient  dumping  ground  of  the  un- 
knowable. What  he  calls  "The  realm  of  the  un- 
knowable" I  call  the  electro-magnetic  sea  of  ether 
in  which  all  things  exist  and  from  which  all  things 
are  evolved,  which  is  the  imperceptible  elements  of 
the  universe  in  solution.  This  I  claim  is  the  fourth 
form  of  matter,  the  invisible  primary  essence  of  all 
visible  creations. 

I  state  his  law  of  the  redistribution  of  matter  and 
motion  in  this  way :  An  increase  of  electric  energy 
produces  an  accelerated  motion  of  the  molecules  of 
a  body  or  substance,  and,  if  continued,  tends  to  its 
dissolution  by  electric  repulsion;  while  an  increase 
of  magnetic  attraction  decreases  the  activity  of  its 
molecules  and  tends  to  integration  or  solidity  of 
form  or  substance. 

There  is  no  such  thing  as  heat  in  reality;  heat  is 
accelerated  motion,  a  sensation  caused  by  the  in- 
creased activity  of  the  molecules;  while  cold  is 
the  absence  of  motion  or  heat. 


164  THE  UNIVERSE 

Mr.  Spencer  has  described  a  general  indefinite 
process  as  "the  redistribution  of  matter  and  mo- 
tion," but  he  has  revealed  no  natural  law,  or  funda- 
mental explanation  of  natural  phenomena.  Every 
important  question  leads  him  to  a  stone  wall  which 
he  does  not  try  to  scale  or  penetrate,  but  labels 
the  "Unknowable." 

A  learned  philosopher  who  has  spent  his  life  en- 
deavoring to  instruct  others  should  not  fall  back 
into  the  convenient  ditch  of  the  "unknowable." 

He  says  :  "  What  is  it  that  holds  together  the  parts 
of  which  this  ultimate  atom  may  be  imagined  to 
consist?  The  only  answer  is  a  cohesive  force."  But 
he  does  not  attempt  to  explain  what  that  cohesive 
force  is,  while  I  undertake  to  say  it  is  magnetic 
cohesion  under  the  law  of  electro-magnetism,  which 
holds  aggregations  of  atoms  in  organic  affinity,  pro- 
ducing visible  form  and  substance. 

He  says  :  "  Force  is  the  ultimate  of  ultimates.  Mat- 
ter and  motion  are  only  different  manifestations  of 
this  unknowable  force." 

This  is  making  force  usurp  the  place  of  Deity. 
Force  is  a  servant,  not  a  master — a  tool  and  not  an 
ultimate  cause.  Force  without  intelligence  back  of 
it  is  anarchy  and  ruin;  it  is  chaos  and  not  a  cos- 
mos. God  is  a  scientific  necessity. 

The  ultimate  of  ultimates  is  mind  or  spirit — the 
eternal  intelligent  spirit  of  Deity  and  man. 

1  accept  the  scientific  postulate  that  the  conserva- 
tion of  energy  and  the  correlation  of  forces  affirm, 
first,  that  there  is  but  one  kind  of  energy  or  force  in 
the  physical  universe ;  but  I  go  further  and  contend 
electric  energy  is  that  force.  Second,  that,  like  mat- 
ter energy  cannot  be  created  or  destroyed.  Third, 


EXPLAINS  NATURAL  PHILOSOPHY  165 

that  energy  appears  in  a  variety  of  forms  as  motion, 
heat,  light  and  so-called  gravity  and  chemical  ac- 
tion. Fourth,  that  these  forms  of  energy  are  inter- 
changeable—any one  form  may  change  into  any 
other  form,  and  all  are  transformations  of  the 
one  ultimate  force  I  term  electricity.  Fifth,  that 
there  is  nothing  in  science  to  show  that  mind  or 
spirit  ever  changes  into  physical  energy,  or  force 
into  mind  or  matter,  or  either  into  the  other.  This 
destroys  the  doctrine  of  monoecism,  or  all  things 
from  one  substance.  And  Haeckel  will  have  to  pro- 
duce more  facts  and  logic  than  he  has  yet  set  forth 
to  prove  that  spirit  and  matter,  force  and  matter 
are  all  one  and  the  same  thing  or  substance. 

The  psychic  or  mental  force  is  the  paramount 
force,  and  the  true  realm  of  evolution  belongs  to  the 
mental  or  spiritual  universe  and  to  organic  nature. 
Physical  changes  are  not  evolution  in  the  highest 
sense  except  as  they  are  the  result  of  spiritual  power 
and  unfolding  intellect.  The  highest  sphere  of  evolu- 
tion is  in  biology  and  psychology. 

There  is  matter,  mind  and  force.  Materialism  is  a 
shallow,  one-sided  doctrine;  and  the  opposite  extreme, 
that  there  is  no  matter,  nothing  but  mind,  is  also 
shallow  and  one-sided.  These  three  separate  entities 
maintain  their  separate  and  distinct  existence. 
The  electric  theory  explains  and  elucidates  all  nat- 
ural philosophy  and  all  material  phenomena,  and  is 
as  a  scientist  has  well  said,  "the  best  exposition  ever 
offered  of  the  physics  and  metaphysics  of  the  uni- 
verse." 

In  regard  to  another  phase  of  natural  philosophy, 
Kant  proved  that  in  our  experience  objects  can  be 
known  only  in  relation  to  a  subject,  and  matter  only 


166  THE  UNIVERSE 

in  relation  to  mind.  From  this  it  is  evident  that 
mind  is  at  least  co-ordinate  with  matter  and  cannot 
be  treated  as  a  mere  property  of  matter.  From 
this  doctrine  Spencer  took  refuge  in  the  strange 
notion  that  we  possess  two  consciousnesses,  the 
consciousness  of  ideas  within  us  and  the  conscious- 
ness of  motions  without  us.  That  neither  of  these 
could  be  resolved  into  the  other,  though  both  were 
the  phenomena  of  an  unknowable  absolute.  This 
self-contradiction  of  a  dualistic  separation  between 
two  aspects  of  our  life,  which  as  a  matter  of  fact  can 
never  be  divided,  proved  a  citadel  of  ignorance  which 
could  not  withstand  the  attacks  of  logical  criticism. 

Mr.  Spencer's  agnostic  dualism  of  objective  and 
subjective  mind  was  due  to  a  fundamental  miscon- 
ception of  what  is  meant  by  the  subjectivity  of 
knowledge.  If  we  have  the  consciousness  of  object 
and  subject  only  in  relation  to  each  other,  it  is  not 
necessary  to  seek  the  principle  of  their  unity  in  any 
third  principle,  for  his  unknowable  absolute  is  "in 
our  mouths  and  in  our  hearts,"  and  found  in  the 
inseparable  unity  of  experience  in  which  the  inward 
and  outward  are  correlative  elements. 

It  seems  Mr.  Spencer's  agnosticism  is  a  sort  of 
spiritual  refuge  for  the  destitutes  who  renounce  their 
heritage  like  Esau  or  waste  it  like  the  prodigal  son, 
and  feed  on  husks.  For  those  who  by  their  abstrac- 
tions separate  the  elements  of  experience  from  each 
other,  are  forced  to  go  beyond  experience  for  the 
unity  they  have  lost,  and  flounder  in  the  miry  bogs 
of  agnosticism. 

The  true  way  is  to  give  up  such  abstractions  as 
objective  and  subjective  mind,  for  the  mind  is  a 
unity,  and  learn  to  "  think  things  together"  and 


EXPLAINS  NATURAL  PHILOSOPHY  167 

recognize  the  organic  relation  of  the  inner  and  the 
outer  life  and  "  explain  the  parts  by  the  whole,  and 
not  the  whole  by  artificially  severed  parts."  This 
organic  unity  of  mind  in  man  is  illustrated  by  the 
organic  unity  of  the  universe,  which,  under  the  elec- 
tric theory  of  creation,  is  a  vast  electric  organism 
bound  together  by  invisible  electric  bands,  where 
every  atom  has  an  individuality  manifested  and  ex- 
plained in  the  harmonious  unity  of  an  ever-changing 
but  indestructible  universe. 

As  man  is  capable  of  knowing  all  things,  he  cannot 
be  identified  with  any  of  them,  or  if  as  an  individual 
he  is  so  identified,  he  has  within  him  in  his  spiritual 
nature  that  which  carries  him  beyond  the  limits  of 
his  individuality.  In  his  inner  moral  life  man  is 
revealed  to  himself  as  a  free-will  agent,  a  great  and 
self-determining  being,  conscious  of  being  subor- 
dinated only  to  the  law  of  duty,  which  is  the  law 
of  his  own  reason. 

That  law,  in  spite  of  every  outer  pressure,  he  knows 
he  ought  to  obey,  and  therefore  knows  that  he  can 
obey  it.  Thus  man  is  both  natural  and  spiritual; 
he  is  limited  to  a  finite  personality,  yet  possesses  a 
universal  capacity  for  knowledge  and  an  absolute 
power  of  self-determination.  Human  reason  with 
one  voice  seems  to  depress  man  to  the  level  of  an 
animal,  and  with  the  other  voice  proceeds  to  elevate 
him  to  the  theatre  of  all  life  and  being,  as  a  "  spec- 
tator of  all  time  and  existence,"  gifted  with  absolute 
freedom  of  will  and  conscious  individuality.  There 
is  an  identity  which  is  below  or  above  all  distinc- 
tion; and  the  universe  is  one  through  all  its  multi- 
plicity and  permanent  through  all  its  changes.  The 
unity  beneath  all  differences,  the  priority  of  the 


168  THE  UNIVERSE 

universal  to  all  particulars,  is  necessary  to  the  true 
conception  of  the  organic  unity  of  the  world.  All 
opposition  of  thought  and  things  are  relative  opposi- 
tions which  find  a  solution  in  the  life  and  movement 
of  the  whole.  In  all  the  great  controversies  that 
have  divided  the  world  the  combatants  have  really 
been  co-operators.  They  developed  truth  and  un^. 

We  do  not  see  anything  truly  until  we  comprehend 
it  as  a  whole,  and  see  it  in  all  its  relations  to  the 
universe.  Everything  so  far  as  it  has  an  independ- 
ent, individual  existence  at  all  is  an  organism. 
While  conceiving  the  universe  as  organic,  Hegel 
maintained  that  it  "is  not  a  natural  but  a  spiritual 
organism."  For  the  limited  scope  of  a  natural  or- 
ganism and  its  process  cannot  be  regarded  as  com- 
mensurate with  a  universe  which  comprehends  all 
existence,  whether  classed  as  organic  or  inorganic. 
Only  the  conscious  and  self-conscious  unity  of  mind 
can  overreach  and  overcome  such  extreme  antag- 
onisms and  reduce  them  all  to  elements  in  the  reali- 
zation of  its  own  life. 

The  natural  universe,  I  contend,  is  an  organism 
which  includes  nature,  but  manifests  its  ultimate  or 
highest  spiritual  force  only  in  the  life  of  man.  The 
universe  as  an  electric  organism  obeys  the  higher 
supreme  spiritual  forces.  It  is  said  that  "  Hegel  was 
only  working  out  in  the  sphere  of  speculative 
thought  what  Christianity  had  already  expressed  for 
the  ordinary  consciousness."  Nearly  all  great  think- 
ers, I  contend,  reason  forward  or  backward  to  the 
fundamental  truths  of  the  Bible,  only  expressed  in  a 
little  different  way,  and  which  is  the  old  familiar 
process  in  human  history  of  "  pouring  old  wine  into 
new  bottles."  Hegel  sought  to  show  how  an  ideal- 


EXPLAINS  NATURAL  PHILOSOPHY  169 

istic  view  of  the  universe  and  human  life  could  be 
maintained  consistently  with  the  fullest  recognition 
of  scientific  methods  and  results.  This  was  an 
attempt  at  the  reconciliation  of  science,  philosophy 
and  religion  proceeding  from  the  growing  prevalence 
of  that  harmonizing  spirit  which  seeks  to  do  justice  to 
the  results  of  scientific  investigation  and  at  the  same 
time  give  them  a  new  and  enlightened  interpreta- 
tion. In  this  he  was  right.  The  main  conflict  in 
philosophy  as  in  religion  has  ceased  to  lie  between 
materialism  and  idealism  or  spiritualism,  but  rather 
between  Herbert  Spencer's  "  Vague  Consciousness  of 
the  Absolute,"  which  he  bids  us  worship,  and  that 
faith  which  enables  us  to  pierce  the  veil  of  the  phe- 
nomena and  grasp  the  ultimate  reality  of  things. 
Philosophy,  therefore,  is  always  toiling  after  the  in- 
tuitions of  faith  as  "  cities  of  refuge."  All  philoso- 
phy can  safely  maintain  that  "what  is  rational  is 
actual,  and  what  is  actual  is  rational."  And  all 
accord  with  man's  highest  inspirations  of  spiritual 
faith  and  hope.  And  the  electric  theory  of  creation 
is  the  most  rational  explanation  of  an  organic 
universe  evolved  and  controlled  by  natural  law  which 
is  the  will  of  Deity,  whereby  spirit  intelligence  con- 
trols by  electric  energy  all  the  forces  and  manifesta- 
tions of  visible  creation. 

Herbert  Spencer  has  done  a  great  work  for  science. 
He  has  been  a  great  champion  and  expounder  of 
evolution,  and  the  laws  of  the  material  universe. 
And  while  he  has  been  a  great  agnostic  on  religious 
subjects  it  is  because  he  is  a  spiritual  non-conductor. 

Man  is  like  a  wireless  telegraphic  receiver;  he 
draws  only  that  which  corresponds  to  his  nature 
and  character. 


170  THE  UNIVERSE 

Different  men  have  different  casts  of  mind  and 
different  natural  aptitudes.  Some  are  natural  re- 
ceivers of  truths,  and  others  are  natural  non-con- 
ductors of  certain  truths. 

There  are  two  eminent  illustrations  of  this  fact,  it 
is  said,  in  the  immortal  Sir  Isaac  Newton  and  John 
Milton,  whose  names  are  equally  historic  and  illus- 
trious for  their  learning  and  culture.  For  it  is  said 
that  Newton  could  not  appreciate  "  Paradise  Lost," 
and  Milton  could  see  nothing  in  "The  Principia." 
This  was  not  to  the  discredit  of  either  of  these  books, 
nor  was  it  a  reflection  upon  the  technical  learning  of 
either  man.  Neither  was  attuned  to  the  message 
which  the  other  brought  to  humanity  and  it  proves 
that  in  order  to  apprehend  truth  in  any  quarter  a 
man  must  be  sympathetically  disposed  toward  it. 

Milton  had  no  mind  for  mathematics,  nor  Newton 
for  poetry.  So  the  wisest  philosophers  like  Herbert 
Spencer  may  go  to  religion  and  find  nothing  there 
but  the  abstruce  and  unknowable.  Spencer's  mind 
dwells  on  the  phenomena  of  matter  and  material 
senses  only.  It  is  said  nearly  every  great  thinker 
has  some  central  thought  fixed  firmly  in  his  mind. 
The  central  thought  of  Plato  is  the  theory  of  ideas 
— the  assertion  of  the  apparitional  character  of  the 
seemingly  real  world.  The  central  thought  of  Pascal 
is  that  of  human  intelligence  confronting  the  uni- 
verse and  strangled  by  it  inexorable  tragedies.  The 
central  thought  of  Schopenhauer  is  the  absurdity  of 
life,  and  the  central  thought  of  Herbert  Spencer  is 
the  evolution  of  the  material  universe. 


PART   SECOND 


Sleep,  death  and  oblivion  are  things  that  mock; 

Sleep  in  dreams;  death  and  oblivion  in  the  grave; 
And  yet  we  are  not  mocked.    We  only  walk 

Amid  realities  that  bind  us  like  a  slave. 
Sleep  soothes  and  cheers;  death  grimly  reaps  and  slays. 

It  makes  earth  but  a  tomb— its  house  of  revelry  ; 
It  stalks  amid  life's  dark  and  brightest  ways 

And  takes  its  victims,.    All  are  'neath  its  slavery. 
With  chilling  frosts  it  nips  life's  brightest  flowers, 

And  with  pale  faces  and  a  gasp  they  go, 
And  vaguely  trust  to  bloom  'neath  other  bowers, 
Where  death's  grim  hand  will  never  blast  them  so. 


All  hearts  beat  to  music  and  measure, 

Like  songs  of  the  spheres  as  they  roll, 
And  from  dreamland's  far  mystical  treasure 

Come  songbirds  that  sing  to  the  soul; 
Where  the  glint  of  the  gold  in  fair  tresses 

Hide  a  face  that  we  never  have  seen, 
And  the  infinite  hope  that  caresses 

Kisses  joys  that  we  never  may  glean. 

For  the  wealth  of  the  world  is  ideal ; 

There  is  bliss  in  the  beauty  of  rhyme, 
And  the  thoughts  of  the  soul  are  the  real, 

Outlasting  the  cycles  of  time. 
And  the  soul  is  the  diamond  eternal 

Where  spirit  and  power  are  one, 
Brushing  dross  from  its  splendor  supernal 

As  dust  from  the  eye  of  the  sun. 

All  life  is  a  poem  of  glory ; 

Neither  reason  nor  senses  can  grasp, 
Till  we  read  every  verse  in  the  story, 

And  the  hand  of  the  author  we  clasp. 
Then  sing  on  sweet  souls  as  of  olden, 

With  visions  of  soul-land  that  shine, 
Till  the  harp  of  the  earthly  is  golden 

From  the  hand  of  the  Author  Divine. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

SCIENCE    AND    PHILOSOPHY    SUSTAIN   THE  RELIGIOUS 
CONCEPT 

I  CONTEND  that  science,  philosophy  and  electric 
evolution  sustain  the  religious  concept. 

The  infinite  and  eternal  power  that  animates  the 
universe  must  be  psychical  in  its  nature,  and  any 
attempt  to  reduce  it  to  mechanical  force  must  end  in 
absurdity.  The  only  kind  of  monism  which  will 
stand  the  test  of  an  ultimate  analysis,  says  John 
Fiske  is  monotheism.  The  highest  development  of 
psychical  life  is  the  end  for  which  the  world  exists. 
To  the  materialist  the  ultimate  power  is  material 
power,  and  psychical  life  is  nothing  but  fleeting 
colocations  of  natural  elements  in  the  shape  of  ner- 
vous systems.  The  psychical  nature  of  God  and  the 
immortality  of  the  soul  harmonize  infinitely  better 
with  cosmic  philosophy.  Prof.  John  Fiske  says  : 
"  Evolution  brings  before  us  with  vividness  the  con- 
ception of  an  ever-present  God,  not  an  absentee 
God  who  once  manufactured  a  cosmic  machine  cap- 
able of  running  itself.  It  makes  God  our  constant 
support  and  nature  His  revelation,  and  when  all 
its  religious  implications  are  set  forth  it  will  be 
seen  to  be  the  most  potent  ally  Christianity  ever 
had  in  elevating  mankind.  The  progress  of  evolu- 
tion now  is  to  bring  out  the  higher  spiritual  attri- 
butes and  to  set  the  whole  doctrine  of  evolution  in 


174  THE  UNIVERSE 

harmony  with  religion.  Then,  the  assumption  that 
underlies  all  religion  must  be  true— that  what  we  see 
of  the  present  life  is  not  the  whole  thing;  that  there 
is  a  spiritual  as  well  as  a  material  side  of  life;  in 
short,  a  life  eternal. 

"In  the  whole  history  of  evolution,"  he  continues, 
"when  we  see  an  internal  adjustment  reach  out 
towards  something,  it  is  in  order  to  adapt  itself  to 
something  that  exists.  And  if  the  religious  cravings 
of  man  constitute  an  exception  they  are  the  only 
exception  in  the  whole  process  of  evolution."  This 
is  an  argument  of  stupendous  and  resistless  weight. 
This  puts  evolution  in  harmony  with  religious 
thought,  and  the  great  religious  drift  of  humanity 
in  all  ages,  and  removes  the  antagonism  that  used 
to  appear  to  exist  between  religion  and  science. 

The  French  materialists  of  the  eighteenth  century 
virtually  declared  :  "We  content  ourselves  with  what 
we  can  prove  by  the  methods  of  physical  science 
and  we  will  reject  all  else."  But  think  how  chaotic 
nature  was  to  their  minds  compared  to  our  present 
conception,  and  how  different  the  universe  they 
saw  to  what  we  see  to-day.  And  it  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at  that  there  was  antagonism  between 
science  and  religion.  Anaxagoras  maintained  that 
the  human  race  would  never  have  become  human 
if  it  were  not  for  the  hand,  and  John  Fiske  says, 
"man  never  would  have  attained  his  present  psychic 
powers  but  for  religion" 

This  is  truth  well  stated,  and  the  fact  that  man 
is  the  only  creature  that  has  a  hand,  an  articulate 
voice  and  an  aesthetic  nature  that  is  never  satis- 
fied, is  strong  proof  that  man  is  infinitely  more 
than  a  mere  animal,  or  a  transient  animate  ma- 


SCIENCE  AND  PHILOSOPHY  SUSTAIN  RELIGION    175 

chine.  The  higher  intellectual  powers  were  dwarfed  in 
the  middle  ages,  when  human  life  was  made  hideous 
by  famine,  pestilence,  perennial  warfare  and  bloody 
superstitions,  fear  of  witchcraft  and  eternal  tor- 
ments, and  men  endured  it  because  they  had  no 
experience  of  anything  better.  But  the  change 
wrought  in  six  centuries  is  amazing,  and  shows 
that  human  genius  and  man's  possibilities  are  be- 
yond our  comprehension.  The  genius  of  Aristotle 
proved  that  the  earth  is  a  globe,  that  of  Coper- 
nicus showed  that  it  was  one  of  a  system  of  planets, 
and  that  of  Newton  undertook  to  explain  the  laws 
and  dynamics  of  this  marvelous  sun  and  world 
system. 

Belief  in  God,  and  the  immortality  of  the  soul, 
and  the  compensations  of  a  future  life  tend  to  main- 
tain social  order  and  moral  rectitude,  by  enabling 
men  to  endure  the  trials  and  injustice  of  this  world 
in  the  hope  of  ample  compensation  in  the  hereafter. 
Man  steps  forth  on  this  revolving  globe  not  of  his 
own  volition,  but  is  sent  here  by  some  mysterious 
power  on  some  inscrutable  mission  to  fulfill  some 
divine  purpose.  He  comes  as  a  spiritual  wayfarer 
under  sentence  of  death.  Not  death  to  the  spirit, 
but  to  the  transient  habiliments  of  earth-dust  he 
gathers  round  his  invisible  spiritual  form.  When 
he  arrives  and  gathers  his  reasoning  powers  to 
scan  the  narrow  horizon  of  his  life,  he  is  beset  by 
perplexing  problems  of  povert3%  disease,  sorrow,  sin 
and  death.  The  "  slings  and  arrows  of  outrageous 
fortune"  often  overwhelm  him,  and  he  discovers  at 
last  that  the  law  of  life  is  the  law  of  growth  and 
development;  and  all  these  struggles  and  trials  are 
intended  to  evolve  character  and  purify  and  ennoble 


176  THE  UNIVERSE 

the  soul.  That  this  is  the  seed  time  and  nursery 
of  existence  preparatory  to  the  harvest  of  eternal 
life  when  he  shall  drop  this  overcoat  of  atoms  and 
be  transplanted  to  the  self-luminous  bosom  and  un- 
fading joys  of  the  perfected  and  celestial  sun-worlds. 
Here  he  sees  incompleteness,  fragmentary  careers, 
tragedies,  injustice,  griefs  and  farewells,  and  he 
hungers  for  knowledge.  His  quenchless  spirit  seeks 
to  penetrate  the  mysteries  of  the  universe,  and  com- 
prehend time  and  eternity,  and  in  agony  of  soul  he 
asks  the  age-old  question,  "If  a  man  die,  shall  he 
live  again?"  Then,  if  he  turn  not  to  the  pages  of 
sacred  writ  for  an  answer,  he  will  find  written  on  the 
living  pages  and  animated  forms  of  all  nature  the 
promise  of  another  life.  He  will  find  it  in  the  re- 
turning verdure  of  spring,  in  the  unfading  light  of 
the  eternal  stars,  in  the  ever-changing  beauty  of 
the  bending  skies,  in  the  mysterious  impulse  of  the 
untaught  birds  of  the  air  who  start  on  their  vast 
migrations  from  the  frozen  seas  of  the  north  to 
the  summer-lands  of  the  sunny  south;  in  the  tropic 
fish,  who  seek  their  spawning  nests  in  the  clear, 
cool  rivers  of  the  north.  The  bear  and  lion,  the 
tiger  and  elephant,  the  bees  and  the  insects  of  a 
summer  day,  all  have  the  longings  of  their  natures 
satisfied.  Why  should  man  be  an  exception?  If 
the  Creator  of  all  keeps  faith  with  all  other  crea- 
tures, why  not  with  man? 

"As  something  must  have  been  eternal,"  says 
Prof.  Wright,  "it  is  easier  to  suppose  it  was  an 
intelligent,  designing  mind  which  was  uncreated  from 
the  beginning,  and  which  has  brought  the  universe 
into  being  with  all  its  uniformity  of  laws  and  com- 
plexity of  adaptation  than  to  suppose  that  the  eter- 


SCIENCE  AND  PHILOSOPHY  SUSTAIN  RELIGION    177 

nal  substance  was  matter  out  of  which  has  come 
the  orderly  universe  as  we  know  it,  with  its  high 
grades  of  intelligence  in  animals  and  man. 

"The  world,  as  the  creation  of  a  supreme  intelli- 
gence, is  partially  comprehensible  to  finite  minds. 
But  to  suppose  that  the  thought  and  purpose  and 
will  of  man  are  products  of  material  forces  is  not 
only  a  mystery,  but  an  absurdity  which  cannot 
long  be  entertained  by  any  sane  mind.  The  theory 
of  evolution  without  a  God  can  lay  no  claim  to 
scientific  support.  A  theory  of  evolution,  designed, 
controlled  and  permeated  by  divine  ideas,  may  be 
both  scientific  and  in  accord  with  the  highest  dic- 
tates of  religious  truth." 

As  to  the  life  hereafter,  which  the  religious  con- 
cept has  always  proclaimed,  it  is  a  fact  demon- 
strated by  history  that  in  all  ages,  among  all  peo- 
ple, under  all  religious  forms,  the  idea  of  immor- 
tality remains  fixed  and  imperishable  in  the  human 
mind.  Every  human  being  in  coming  into  this 
world  brings  with  him  under  a  form  more  or  less 
vague  this  inward  belief,  desire  and  hope  of  immor- 
tality. This  is  God's  handwriting  on  the  human 
soul.  And  the  history  of  man,  the  reasoning  con- 
science of  man,  is  God's  Bible  of  life  written  in  man's 
spiritual  nature.  And  whatever  is  rational,  true 
and  good  is  of  God,  and  whatever  is  contrary  to 
the  enlightened  conscience  of  man  is  contrary  to 
the  divine  purpose  of  God. 

Revelation  proclaims  God  is  a  spirit  and  man  is 
a  spirit,  and  after  death  man  in  his  spiritual  being 
shall  live  on  forever.  The  latest  modern  scientific 
thought  fully  and  powerfully  sustains  the  Bible. 
It  says  in  substance,  in  dealing  with  man  we  must 

12 


178  THE  UNIVERSE 

deal  with  him  as  a  spiritual  being ;  we  must  go  into 
a  realm  that  brings  us  within  the  sphere  of  the 
electrical  and  magnetic  relations  of  the  elements, 
but  on  a  different  plane.  First,  matter  in  the  in- 
visible world  has  the  same  essential  basis  of  for- 
mative power  so  potent  in  the  more  tangible  rela- 
tions. Second,  the  invisible  atoms  there  obey  the 
same  essential  principles  that  in  a  lower  grade  of 
activity  give  visible  results.  Third,  there  must  be 
a  direct  connection  between  the  two  conditions  of 
being — the  visible  and  the  spiritual — as  to  be  axio- 
matic. Fourth,  there  must  be  a  secondary  form  of 
the  invisible  elements  ere  they  assume  the  visible 
relation,  which  is  a  chemical  or  electric  necessity. 
In  all  life  this  law  is  absolute.  Fifth,  in  applying 
this  principle  to  the  process  of  the  evolution  of 
man's  form  we  have  an  explanation  of  how  it 
must  be  a  natural  product  of  evolutionary  life, 
and  that  man  must  follow  the  same  law  as  the 
evolution  of  all  spirit  that  pertains  to  planetary 
life.  Spirit  holds  visible  things  in  form  by  its 
connection  with  the  magnetic  life  of  the  planet. 
It  is  the  controlling  power  in  shaping  the  form 
and  organism  to  correspond  to  changed  conditions. 
The  material  form  can  only  exist  by  keeping  itself 
in  harmony  with  the  laws  of  the  elements  in  the 
planet,  and  as  long  as  the  planet  endures  the  elec- 
tric form  in  man  and  the  electric  or  instinct  form 
in  animals  within  the  radius  of  its  magnetic  aurora 
must  exist  as  a  secondary  satellite,  or  miniature 
concrete  expression  of  the  forces  in  the  planet. 
This  principle  may  give  the  electric  form  immor- 
tality, and,  by  reason  of  the  eternal  nature  of 
the  elements  composing  it,  place  it  beyond  the 


SCIENCE  AND  PHILOSOPHY  SUSTAIN  RELIGION    179 

possibility  of  dissolution  as  long  as  the  planetary 
relation  of  the  elements  exists.  But  with  man  it  goes 
even  further,  for  the  spirit  form,  having  the  basic 
principles  of  eternal  existence  in  its  spiritual  com- 
position and  having  once  entered  upon  organic  life, 
has  in  itself  immortality  and  the  power  of  self-sus- 
tenance from  the  elements  in  space  and  cannot 
become  disintegrated,  for  it  has  all  the  necessary 
material  to  keep  it  in  eternal  existence  as  an  organ- 
ism, though  the  planet  should  revert  to  its  original 
status  and  vanish  as  a  distinct  form.  This  explan- 
ation of  the  nature  of  spirit  gives  us  a  logical 
ground  for  the  rational  consideration  of  the  phenom- 
enon that  has  been  the  basis  of  all  the  superstitions 
embalmed  in  the  sacred  and  curious  literature  of 
past  ages.  That  man  and  probably  all  types  of 
life  have  a  spiritual  or  electric  counterpart  is  not  a 
scientific  speculation  or  hypothesis  merely,  but  a 
logical  sequence  of  the  forms  that  enter  into  phys- 
ical organization. 

Here  in  the  secondary  form,  says  the  author  of 
"  Planetary  Evolution,"  is  an  explanation  of  the 
nature  of  spirit  that  follows  the  same  principles 
that  construct  the  physical  body  and  form  the 
same  material  environments.  And  the  questions  of 
a  spiritual  life,  apart  from  this  principle  of  a  second- 
ary form,  cannot  be  solved  by  any  known  formula 
of  a  scientific  character.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
existence  of  a  form  holding  the  powers  of  thought 
and  action  upon  the  plane  of  radiant  matter  gives 
a  satisfactory  explanation  of  the  transference  of 
the  mental  powers  that  belong  to  planetary  life. 
The  law  of  correlation  and  conservation  of  force 
prevent  their  annihilation,  and  they  must  exist 


180  THE  UNIVERSE 

somewhere.  They  are  a  spiritual  entity,  but  should 
not  be  regarded  as  having  a  supernatural  origin. 

"The  spirit  is  an  evolution  of  planetary  life  and 
cannot  be  destroyed,  and  it  is  natural  that  its  men- 
tal attachments  to  the  planet  should  bring  it  in 
contact  with  the  mental  development  generated 
there.  The  spirit  would  have  the  power  of  thought 
and  consecutive  reasoning  as  much  after  its  tran- 
sition from  mortal  life  as  before,  but  it  would  lack 
the  power  of  expression  through  ordinary  channels, 
It  would,  however,  have  the  power  of  inductive  electric 
transfer  of  thought,  and,  coming  in  contact  with  a 
spirit  embodied,  this  power  of  induction  would 
excite  the  elements  in  the  spirit  embodied  to  equili- 
brium of  mentality,  which  would  give  rise  to  a  simi- 
larity of  thought  in  both."  And  here  lies  the  foun- 
dation of  the  doctrine  of  inspiration  which  is  a  pro- 
cess of  mental  action  whereby  the  mind  in  the  body 
is  raised  to  a  perception  and  expression  of  ideas 
beyond  its  own  range  of  thought  as  generated  by 
the  physical  senses.  The  result  is  the  upbuilding 
of  the  brain  organ  and  the  uplifting  of  the  mental- 
ity to  the  purely  spiritual  plane,  and  man  has  thus, 
by  the  aid  of  the  spiritual  powers,  made  another 
stride  forward  in  the  domain  of  spiritual  evolution. 
And  man  is  a  spiritualized  being  with  brain  organs 
adapted  to  the  expression  of  ideas  that  respond  to 
the  spiritual  state  of  life. 

It  is  sometimes  assumed  that  a  man  cannot  be  a 
Christian  and  a  man  of  science;  yet  there  have  been 
many  men  of  science,  from  Newton  to  Lord  Kelvin, 
who  were  devout  Christians.  It  is  also  assumed  in 
some  quarters  that  an  educated  man  cannot  believe 
in  miracles,  or  answers  to  prayer,  or  special  provi- 


SCIENCE  AND  PHILOSOPHY  SUSTAIN  RELIGION    181 

dences.  But  this  is  not  a  fair  assumption  even  from 
a  scientific  standpoint.  Science  affirms  the  univer- 
sality of  energy  and  law ;  Christian  theology  accepts 
this  fundamental  postulate  of  science  and  says  it 
is  the  result  of  universal  spirit  and  will,  or  In- 
finite Mind  and  volition,  which  is  back  of  universal 
energy  and  law.  Energy  is  spirit  and  will  at  work ; 
law  is  the  mode  of  work.  Energy  and  law  are  deriv- 
ative, spirit  and  will  is  the  primary  and  ultimate 
force  of  the  universe. 

But  says  the  unbelieving  scientist,  "  I  accept  energy 
and  law  as  facts,  but  do  not  see  that  spirit  and 
will  are  facts."  Christianity  replies:  "You  mean 
by  'see,'  mental  sight;  for  in  the  physical  sense  you 
can  no  more  see  energy  and  law  than  you  can  see 
spirit  and  will,  or  mind  and  volition. 

"The  fact  is,  science  is  a  search  for  the  invisible 
or  supersensible — for  that  which  lies  beyond  sense 
and  vision.  You  call  it  energy  and  law,  which  we 
say  is  a  result  and  not  a  cause,  and  point  to 
spirit  and  will,  which  is  the  primitive,  ultimate,  first 
cause  of  universal  energy  and  law. 

"Would  you  feel  it  a  just  description  of  yourself 
if  you  were  described  as  nothing  but  a  system  of 
energy  and  law.  Energy  is  action  according  to 
law.  But  there  is  psychical  energy  as  well  as  phys- 
ical energy,  or  'a  double  faced'  unity — psychical 
on  one  side  and  physical  on  the  other.  Thought, 
feeling,  volition  are  all  species  of  energy  subject  to 
laws  of  their  own.  And,  what  is  most  wonderful, 
while  they  are  invisible  and  intangible  they  control 
all  physical  energy  in  man  and  all  animal  organ- 
isms, just  as  universal  spirit  and  will  or  volition 
control  all  energy  and  law  in  the  physical  universe. 


182  THE  UNIVERSE 

Then,  is  universal  energy  and  law  psychical  or  phys- 
ical? If  it  is  intelligent  and  works  according  to 
design  and  purpose  with  beneficent  uniformity  it 
must  be  psychical,  and  all  physical  energy  and  law 
is  but  a  manifestation  of  spiritual  energy  and  pur- 
pose." 

Then  says  the  scientist,  "  there  may  be  intelligence 
without  physical  organism,  and  man  may  be  in 
constant  contact  with  the  spiritual  world.  But  I 
am  an  organized  being  and  cannot  imagine  how 
unorganized  beings  could  communicate  with  me 
even  if  they  wished  to  do  so.  I  cannot  imagine  it  as 
possible  that  I  could  know  God,  who  is  a  spirit." 

But  Christianity  answers,  "  suppose  you  are  not 
matter  only,  but  that  you  are  a  spirit  also,  and 
a  spiritual  atom  of  that  universal  spirit  which  con- 
trols the  universe,  then  could  not  spirit  communicate 
with  spirit?  Thus,  you  say,  all  science  is  founded 
on  energy  and  law,  which  necessitates  spiritual 
intelligence  and  will  for  its  foundation,  and  con- 
sciousness for  its  evidence.  Thought,  feeling  voli- 
tion are  forms  of  psychical  energy.  We  are  conscious 
that  we  think,  feel,  will;  and  as  consciousness  is  a 
mental  or  spiritual  perception,  man  must  be  a 
spiritual  being.  Then  we  are  not  far  from  Theism— 
for  God  is  a  spirit.  Besides  energy  and  law  we 
have  consciousness  and  spirit,  and  no  force  without 
will.  Law  is  simply  the  mode  in  which  will  works. 
Law  stands  for  the  regular  and  steadfast  operation 
of  will,  as  opposed  to  variable  or  capricious  action. 
The  uniformity  of  nature  is  rooted  in  the  faithful- 
ness of  God,  which  sustains  the  steadfast  operation 
of  natural  law. 

Then  says  the  scientist,  "  there  could  be  no  mira- 


) 

SCIENCE  AND  PHILOSOPHUSTAIN  RELIGION    183 

cles,  or  answers  to  prayer,  or  special  providences, 
for  these  imply  interference  with  law,  which  would 
mean  inconsistency  on  God's  part  and  confusion 
on  ours." 

But  Christianity  answers,  "  interference  with  law 
is  of  continual  occurrence.  You  cannot  stand  up 
or  walk,  or  so  much  as  raise  your  hand  without 
interfering  with  the  law  of  gravitation  or  attrac- 
tion. We  can  modify  or  direct  the  action  of  forces 
without  violating  their  laws.  Violation  of  God's 
laws  on  God's  part  would  mean  inconstancy.  Di- 
rection of  his  own  energy  to  any  point  He  wills — as 
in  evolution,  for  example — is  no  violation  of  law; 
neither  are  what  are  termed  miracles,  special  provi- 
dences and  answers  to  prayer  violations  of  law, 
but  evolutions  in  accordance  with  law,  as  law  stands 
for  God's  mode  of  working  in  the  control  of  the 
universe." 

Then  says  the  scientist,  "I  cannot  reconcile  the 
two  ideas  of  'infinity'  and  'personality.'  Person- 
ality implies  limitation;  infinity  asserts  absence  of 
limitation,  a  being  cannot  be  at  once  limited  and 
unlimited." 

"But  why  should  we  suppose  personality  to  in- 
volve limitation?"  says  Christian  theology.  "Even 
in  man  the  essential  idea  of  personality  is  not  limi- 
tation. Personality  in  philosophy  and  theology  re- 
fers not  to  the  body  but  to  consciousness  and  will. 
What  difficulty  is  there  in  believing  that  the  Infi- 
nite God  is  infinitely  conscious  and  volitional  and 
therefore  personal." 

There  is  a  mighty  force  in  the  material  meta'- 
phors  of  the  Bible,  but  these  all  stand  for  spiritual 
realities,  and  its  fundamental  postulate  is  "God  i§ 


184  THE  UNIVERSE 

a  Spirit,"  and  "  God  is  Love."  As  man  is  a  spiritual 
atom  of  deity.  God  has  spiritual  contact  and  in- 
fluence with  his  spiritual  children  and  they  are 
"moved  by  the  Spirit,"  and  "born  of  the  Spirit," 
as  they  accept  and  obey  that  spiritual  influence 
which  leads  to  righteousness  and  truth.  Religion 
cannot  exist  without  spirituality  and  the  religious 
concept.  God  has  so  constituted  the  human  soul. 
Without  religion  the  soul  could  not  dream  of  heaven 
nor  feel  the  sweet  whisperings  of  faith  and  hope. 
Neither  could  the  heart  thrill  with  spiritual  joy  and 
truth.  Without  religion  the  heaven-bound  spirit 
could  not  soar  to  the  altitudes  of  celestial  bliss. 

Without  religion  and  ideality  there  would  have 
been  no  gems  of  art  or  literature,  no  beautiful 
pictures,  no  living  statuary,  no  lofty  temples  or 
inspiring  thoughts.  The  grandeur  of  Shakespeare, 
the  sublimity  of  Milton,  the  poetry  of  Byron,  Burns, 
Tennyson  and  Longfellow,  the  romances  of  Scott, 
Dickens  and  Hawthorne,  the  noble  architecture  of 
Michael  Angelo,  the  statuary  of  Phideas,  Praxa- 
telles  and  Canova,  and  the  pictures  of  Raphael, 
Murello,  and  Reuben  had  never  been  known.  Ideal- 
ity is  the  father  of  beauty  and  the  inspiration  of 
all  genius,  goodness  and  nobility  and  the  twin 
brother  of  religious  hope  and  faith. 

Without  religion  ideality  would  be  a  mockery  and 
a  dream,  hope  would  be  a  delusion  and  a  snare^ 
inspiration  would  wither,  like  Jonas'  gourd,  in  a 
night,  and  the  mildew  of  selfish  materialism  would 
convert  the  verdure  of  earth  into  deserts  of  despair. 

John  Fiske  well  says,  "Man  "never  would  have 
attained  his  present  psychic  powers  but  for  reli- 
gion," and  without  religion  ideality  would  never 


SCIENCE  AND  PHILOSOPHY  SUSTAIN  RELIGION    185 

have  soared  to  her  lofty  heights  or  brought  forth 
her  beautiful  thoughts,  her  lofty  conceptions,  her 
sublime  dreams  of  joy,  or  her  noble  gems  of  art, 
poetry,  sculpture,  architecture  and  literature.  Re- 
move the  twin  brothers — religion  and  ideality — from 
the  earth,  and  its  glory  and  worth  would  shrivel 
like  a  withered  flower.  Its  hopes  and  joys,  its 
dreams  of  peace  and  love,  of  paradise  and  heaven, 
would  vanish  into  the  desolations  of  a  boundless 
Sahara,  heaped  with  the  burning  sands  of  doubt 
and  scorched  by  the  withering  blast  of  despair. 
The  religious  concept  is  the  pilot  of  the  soul  to  the 
fair  field  of  heaven,  the  communion  with  the  Father 
of  the  spirit,  and  ideality  is  its  companion  and 
servant  who  carries  its  cloak  and  staff  as  they 
journey  along  the  pathways  of  earth  and  the  high- 
ways of  eternity.  Science  and  philosophy,  ideality, 
love  and  hope  and  all  the  aspirations  of  the  human 
soul  sustain  the  religious  concept.  It  is  a  scientific 
postulate  imbedded  in  the  nature  of  man  and  in  the 
basic  law  of  the  universe.  Ideality  and  religion  are 
the  most  powerful  forces  in  uplifting  humanity.  The 
sublimer  the  ideal  the  more  potent  and  ennobling 
its  influence  on  the  human  soul.  Though  millions 
grasp  not  its  sublimity  and  truth,  those  receptive 
souls  nearest  the  light  will  catch  its  divine  illumi- 
nations and  reflect  it  to  those  below.  And  gradually 
those  below  will  grasp  its  beauty  and  truth  and 
step  up  higher,  and  each  in  succession,  step  by 
step,  will  advance  to  "a  higher  plane  and  a  broader 
view,"  and  this  is  growth  and  progress  toward 
perfection. 

The  ultimate  aim  and  purpose  of  creation  is  ideal 
perfection.     This  purpose  is  written  in  the   fun4a- 


186  THE  UNIVERSE 

mental  law  of  evolution — progress  from  the  lower 
to  the  higher  and  the  survival  of  the  fittest.  The 
higher,  the  more  sublime,  the  spiritual  truth,  though 
it  be  ages  in  advance  of  the  world's  comprehension, 
yet  its  brightness  and  power  will  penetrate  the 
darkness,  and  scintillate  from  soul  to  soul,  as  the 
sun  gleams  from  atom  to  atom,  until  at  last  all 
humanity  is  illumined  and  exalted.  When  we  go 
down  into  the  darkness  and  poisoned  vapors  of  a 
dungeon  we  seek  for  a  ray  of  sunshine  as  we  seek 
for  life  and  light,  and  we  are  cheered  by  the  smallest 
sunbeam  which  enters  through  a  crevice,  for  in  its 
silvery  thread  of  light  little  atoms  float  like  minia- 
ture stars,  dispelling  the  desolation.  There  at  our 
feet,  left  to  decay  and  perish,  may  be  the  seed  or 
bulb  of  an  insignificant  vine  or  flower,  forgotten 
by  the  busy  world  of  conflicts  without,  where  little 
men  become  great  and  great  men  become  little,  not 
dreaming  of  the  eternal  law  of  life  and  hope  that 
thrills  in  every  throbbing  atom  and  electric  germ 
in  this  life-evolving  magnetic  universe. 

But  there  in  the  darkness  of  that  dungeon  a  strug- 
gle for  life  and  hope  goes  on  as  important  to  the 
life  involved  as  that  of  building  a  throne  or  destroy- 
ing an  empire.  Never  did  a  hero  dare  or  a  nation 
fight  more  bravely  to  attain  its  aspirations  than 
did  that  little  seed  or  bulb  lying  in  the  darkness. 
A  slender  beam  of  light  gives  it  a  hope  of  escape, 
and,  cold  and  chilled,  its  prayer  for  life  has  slowly 
evolved  a  delicate  pale  vine  which  creeps  toward 
the  sunbeam. 

Each  day  it  has  seen  that  beam  of  light  fade  and 
pass,  and  darkness  and  mildew  paralyze  it  into  the 
stupor  of  unconsciousness.  And  again  that  sun- 


SCIENCE  AND  PHILOSOPHY  SUSTAIN  RELIGION    187 

beam  awoke  it  to  consciousness  and  life.  At  last 
it  reached  the  crevice  whence  came  the  light,  and, 
lifting  itself  as  a  prisoner  escaping  from  death,  it 
springs  forth  into  the  sunshine  and  opens  its  blos- 
soms of  beauty  and  perfume  to  greet  and  gladden 
the  world  of  light  and  life. 

Thus  has  humanity  struggled  for  light,  and  toiled 
for  hope  and  joy  and  sunshine  through  a  thousand 
ages  of  gloom  and  chilling  mildew  of  ignorance  and 
darkness.  And  wherever  a  gleam  of  light  and  truth 
has  pierced  the  shadows  of  life's  struggles  and  trage- 
dies, like  the  tiniest  seed  or  fragile  vine,  the  aspi- 
rations of  his  nature  and  his  longing  soul  have 
reached  up  toward  it. 

What  the  ray  of  light  is  to  the  flower  seed  in  the 
dungeon,  religion  is  to  man.  Wherever  man  has 
crept,  like  the  vine,  in  the  darkness,  towards  the 
light  it  was  his  religious  spiritual  nature  and 
aspirations  which  led  him.  Truth,  which  comes 
from  the  bosom  of  the  eternal  Good,  streams  down 
into  the  darkness  and  lifts  man's  soul  up  into  the 
light  by  the  same  law  that  the  flower  and  the  vine 
seek  the  sunshine,  and  all  true  science  and  philoso- 
phy sustain  the  religious  concept. 

Life  seems  of  little  value  when  men  of  every  na- 
tion are  armed  to  the  teeth  to  slay  each  other  like 
madmen,  as  the  best  way  in  which  they  can  show 
their  gratitude  to  nature  for  the  useless  gift  of  life. 
But  they  are  not  so  anxious  for  war  and  bloodshed 
as  their  preparations  would  indicate.  And  the 
World's  Peace  Conference  at  The  Hague,  and  recent 
arbitration  of  national  questions,  mark  a  new  era 
in  the  world's  history,  and  indicate  a  disarmament 
of  the  nations  in  a  few  decades,  The  fear  of  death 


188  THE  UNIVERSE 

is  useless  and  absurd.  As  Flammarion  has  said, 
there  are  only  two  sides  to  the  question.  When  we 
go  to  sleep  at  night  there  is  always  the  possibility 
that  we  may  never  awaken.  Yet  this  thought  does 
not  prevent  us  from  falling  asleep.  In  one  case,  sup- 
pose death  to  end  all ;  it  is  but  an  unfinished  sleep  to 
last  forever.  In  the  other  case,  should  the  soul  sur- 
vive the  body,  we  shall  reawaken  in  another  world  to 
resume  the  activities  of  life.  In  this  case  the  awaken- 
ing must  be  rather  delightful,  as  every  form  of  life 
and  every  creature  finds  its  happiness  in  the  exer- 
cise of  its  natural  energies  and  faculties.  The  deep 
study  of  this  important  question  and  the  disgust 
at  the  indifference  of  men  to  this  great  problem  of 
human  destiny  impelled  a  great  student  of  science 
to  attempt  suicide.  Because  he  saw  everywhere 
people  absorbed  in  their  material  interests,  accumu- 
lating wealth,  consecrating  their  lives  to  Mammon, 
folly  and  passion  and  neglecting  their  nobler  natures, 
it  made  him  doubt  their  fitness  for  an  eternal  exist- 
ence, and  he  determined  to  know  the  truth  at  once 
by  plunging  into  the  invisible  unknown. 

Prof.  Albert  H.  Walker,  in  a  recent  lecture — May, 
1903 — makes  a  new  distinction  in  philosophy  and 
religion,  when  he  says  :  "  Two  systems  of  philosophy 
will  divide  the  attention  and  adherence  of  the  peo- 
ple of  the  twentieth  century.  One  is  the  old  system 
of  Epicurus  which  long  preceded  the  rise  of  Chris- 
tianity and  which  underlies  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence; and  the  other  is  the  philosophy  of  Chris- 
tian science." 

His  definition  of  religion  and  Atheism  is  some- 
thing modern  and  unique.  He  says  :  "I  define  reli- 
gion as  belief  in  a  God  who  cares;  and  Atheism  as 


SCIENCE  AND  PHILOSOPHY  SUSTAIN  RELIGION    189 

lack  of  belief  in  a  God  who  cares.  These  two  defini- 
tions, if  correct,  divide  all  men  into  two  classes,  and, 
according  to  this  classification,  most  of  the  men  in 
the  United  States  are  Atheists."  He  seems  to  think 
all  men  believe  in  a  God,  but  a  majority  believe  in 
a  God  who  does  not  care,  and  that  is  Atheism. 
An  Atheist  has  always  been  defined  as  one  who 
believes  there  is  no  God;  now  they  may  believe  in 
a  God  who  does  not  care.  This  is  not  a  very  bad 
distinction  and  may  be  the  true  one  in  the  future. 
For  modern  knowledge  and  culture  forbids  any 
thinking  man  from  denying  the  existence  of  a  God, 
and  this  may  compel  modern  Atheism  to  modify 
its  creed  and  accept  a  don't-care  God. 

He  thinks  this  century  may  find  an  answer  to  the 
immortality  of  the  soul,  and  "it  may  be  in  the 
affirmative  through  actual  communication  with 
departed  souls;  or  in  the  negative  by  scientific 
demonstration  that  the  spirit  or  soul  of  man  is 
only  a  name  for  the  electrical  and  chemical  actions 
and  reactions  which  occur  in  the  body."  He  also 
says:  "The  twentieth  century  may  show  whether 
there  is  a  great  master  hand  that  sweeps  over  the 
whole  of  this  deep  harp  of  life,  or  whether  men  are 
but  pipes  through  whom  the  breath  of  '  Pan  doth 
blow  a  momentary  music."  Religion  has  nothing 
to  fear  from  the  future;  materialism  is  vanquished 
and  now  Atheism  must  change  its  creed. 

Canon  Farrar  says  :  "  Let  us  think  noble  thoughts 
of  God  and  break  through  the  brain-spun  meshes 
of  impotent  negations.  God  is  not  vortices  of  atoms, 
or  streams  of  tendencies,  or  earth  fermentations. 
Heaven  is  not  a  vacuous  eternity,  or  a  future  of 
ceaseless  psalmody." 


190  THE  UNIVERSE 

The  Greek  had  his  Elysian  Fields,  his  daffodil 
meadows  where  the  Eidola,  the  shadowy  images  of 
the  dead,  moved  in  a  world  of  shadows;  and  his 
islands  of  the  blest,  where  Achilles  and  Tydides  un- 
laced the  helmet  from  their  flowing  hair.  The  Scan- 
dinavian dreamed  of  his  green  sylvan  paradise  here- 
after, amid  the  barren  wastes.  The  Indian  saw  God 
in  lightning,  heard  him  in  the  thunder's  roar,  and 
viewed  beyond  the  cloud-capped  hills  his  hunters' 
paradise.  And  in  the  perennial  hereafter  in  the  all- 
life-giving  sun  there  are  green  fields,  daffodil 
meadows,  golden  light,  rainbows  that  never  fade, 
glorified  cities,  white-robed  innocence,  the  crown  and 
the  palm  branch,  the  throne  of  serene  majesty,  the 
golden  harp  and  the  song  of  rejoicing,  and  all- 
abounding  happiness,  innocent,  thrilling,  intense 
and  unending. 

The  rare  and  radiant  physical  beauties  of  heaven 
we  cannot  describe,  but  it  is  a  place  where  no  guilty 
step  enters  the  gates  of  pearl,  in  the  city  of  God; 
no  polluting  presence  flings  shadows  on  the  golden 
streets  of  the  New  Jerusalem.  It  is  the  dwelling 
place  of  angels  and  just  men  made  perfect,  and 
spirits  of  saints  in  celestial  glory.  There  is  no 
darkness,  envy,  hatred  or  slander,  no  gold  mixed 
with  dross.  No  bleared  and  blighted  crowds,  de- 
graded out  of  the  semblance  of  humanity,  crawl, 
like  singed  moths,  around  the  flaring  house  of  multi- 
plied temptations.  Where  boyhood  shall  not  so 
live  as  to  make  its  own  manhood  miserable;  where 
manhood  shall  not  so  live  as  to  make  old  age  dis- 
honorable and  death  ghastly.  The  apples  of  Sodom 
cannot  grow  on  the  same  soil  with  the  Tree  of  Life. 

In  other  stars  and  countless  worlds   there   may 


SCIENCE  AND  PHILOSOPHY  SUSTAIN  RELIGION    191 

be  work  for  us  to  do.  What  radiant  ministrations, 
what  infinite  activities,  what  never-ending  progress, 
what  immeasurable  happiness,  what  living  ecstasies 
of  unknown  raptures  may  surround  us  in  the  beauty 
and  loveliness  of  the  land  of  the  leal,  in  the  life 
supernal  ? 

Heaven  is  not  a  reward  but  a  continuity,  not  a 
change  but  a  development.  It  means  a  place  of 
love  and  goodness  where  we  are  one  with  God  and 
playfellows  with  the  angels.  Present  science  would 
change  God  into  a  struggle  of  careless  forces  or  a 
complexity  of  impersonal  laws.  Let  us  reject  the 
Chinese  idea;  they  believe  in  God,  but  worship  the 
devil,  because  they  think  the  devil's  rule  predomi- 
nates. 

Let  us  discard  the  pagan  deification  of  annihi- 
lation, and  the  modern  agnostic's  plea  for  suicide, 
and  the  Greek  poet's  pessimistic  postulate:  "It  were 
best  never  to  have  been  born,  and  next  best  to  de- 
part as  soon  as  possible."  Let  us  grieve  at  the 
dark  shadows  flung  by  theologians  athwart  God's 
light  upon  those  who  believe  that  human  reason, 
conscience,  and  experience,  as  well  as  Scripture,  are 
the  books  of  God.  Phrases  which  belong  to  meta- 
phor, to  imagery,  to  poetry,  to  emotion  should  not 
be  formulated  into  dogmas,  or  crystallized  into 
creed. 

Discard  the  tyrannous  realism  of  ambiguous  meta- 
phors, the  asserted  infallibility  of  isolated  words. 
Canon  Farrar  says  :  "  Erase  from  our  Bible  the  erro- 
neous disputed  renderings  of  the  three  words,  *  dam- 
nation, hell  and  everlasting.'  Not  one  of  these 
three  expressions  ought  to  stand  any  longer  in  our 
English  Bible." 


192  THE  UNIVERSE 

He  says  further  :  "  There  has  never  been  a  human 
being  yet  since  time  began,  however  beautiful,  gifted, 
bright  with  genius,  or  radiant  with  fascination,  who 
has  sinned  with  impunity."  Evil  and  punishment, 
as  Plato  said,  walk  this  world  with  their  heads  tied 
together,  and  the  rivet  that  links  their  iron  link  is 
of  adamant.  It  needs  no  lightning  stroke,  or  di- 
vine interposition,  no  miraculous  message  to  avenge 
God's  violated  laws.  They  avenge  themselves.  The 
hell  fire  of  the  Bible  was  a  spiritual  fire  which  does 
not  burn  the  flesh,  but  purifies  the  spirit.  Not  a 
material  fire,  but  self-kindled  fire,  an  internal  fever — 
in  fact,  remorse  for  remembered  sins — a  figurative 
representation  of  a  moral  process  by  which  resto- 
ration shall  be  effected. 

When  earthly  life  vanishes  and  we  see  in  the  visions 
of  the  soul  an  endless  life  and  being  in  countless 
worlds  of  destiny,  death  has  no  terrors.  The 
thought  of  the  pale,  cold  body  enwrapt  in  its  wind- 
ing sheet,  coffined  and  alone  in  the  narrow  grave, 
its  last  sad  dwelling  place,  with  the  grass  growing 
above,  where  the  lonely  cricket  chirps  through  the 
silent  night,  does  not  disturb  the  calm  and  reason- 
ing soul.  A  few  years  hence  and  we  shall  all  cross 
the  dark  river  to  the  shadowy  unknown  shore  and 
learn  the  mysteries  that  lie  beyond.  But  where  is 
that  wondrous  shore,  and  where  will  all  of  the  now 
living  inhabitants  of  earth  be  a  century  hence? 
Not  floating  in  the  marvelous  belt  of  atmosphere 
which  surrounds  the  earth.  Nor  on  a  changeful 
planet  like  our  earth.  Not  floating  in  the  frigid  ether 
of  space,  but,  if  my  hypothesis  is  correct,  they  will  be 
celestial  residents  in  the  self-luminous,  all-life-giving 
sun. 


SCIENCE  AND  PHILOSOPHY  SUSTAIN  RELIGION    193 

The  only  rational  scientific  theory  that  satisfies 
my  mind  is  to  regard  the  suns  as  self-luminous, 
perfected  worlds,  the  visible  abode  of  deity,  and  the 
future  home  of  the  soul.  This  hypothesis  accords 
with  every  recently  established  fact  in  science,  nature 
and  revelation.  It  fits  man's  hopes  and  aspirations, 
his  aesthetic  nature,  his  psychic  powers  and  reli- 
gious concept  which  have  followed  him  through  all 
the  vicissitudes  of  his  history. 

The  question  often  arises  :  As  justice  reigns  in  the 
moral  world,  as  equilibrium  reigns  in  the  physical 
world,  and  the  destiny  of  the  soul  is  the  result  of 
its  aptitudes  and  its  aspirations,  are  only  those 
souls  alone  that  truly  live  and  unfold  their  faculties 
and  aspire  to  knowledge  and  truth  destined  to  a 
conscious  immortality  ?  Many  souls  pass  their  lives 
here  in  mental  sleep,  intellectual  stupor,  and  spirit- 
ual paralysis.  Will  they  receive  the  gift  of  eternal 
life?  Many  great  scientists  think  they  will  not. 
And  all  who  neglect  their  mental  and  moral  devel- 
opment seal  their  own  fate  and  will  have  no  future 
existence.  This  is  a  distressing  view  held  and  cham- 
pioned by  some  of  the  able  minds  of  modern  times. 
But  I  do  not  agree  with  them,  for  I  believe  every 
soul  is  a  spiritual  atom  of  deity  and,  however  ignor- 
ant and  depraved,  may  become  wise  and  good,  and 
enjoy  the  beatitudes  of  an  immortal  existence. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

HUMAN    REASON    AND    THE   UNIVERSE   ARE  BOOKS  OF 
GOD,  AS  WELL  AS  THE  BIBLE. 

IT  is  a  mistake  to  consider  the  Bible  as  the  only 
book  of  God  and  its  revelations  the  only  revela- 
tions of  Deity.  The  natural  universe  and  human 
reason  are  also  books  of  God.  They  are  books  He 
has  been  writing  all  along  through  the  varied  his- 
tory of  man  and  the  universe,  from  the  dawn  of 
creation  until  now.  Man  is  God's  handiwork,  His 
most  perfect  and  finished  product,  a  machine  he 
has  been  developing  and  improving  through  all  the 
ages,  a  book  that  He  has  bound  and  rebound,  and 
stamped  upon  it  His  name  and  title  a  million  times. 

The  Bible  teaches  this  when  it  says,  "Ye  are  His 
epistles  known  and  read  of  all  men."  He  has  named 
this  book,  this  living  epistle  written  by  His  own 
hands,  "The  Sons  of  God,"  "Children  of  the  Most 
High,"  "Heirs  of  Eternal  Life."  And  man's  body,  the 
binding  which  He  has  furnished  for  this  book,  He 
has  designated  "the  temple  of  the  living  God— the 
tabernacle  of  flesh."  The  Bible  is  not  only  a  book 
of  religious  and  ethical  teaching,  but  also  a  history 
of  the  reason,  conscience  and  experience  of  men  for 
a  thousand  generations. 

The  Bible  is  the  revelation  of  God's  mind  and  will, 
and  so  is  man,  who  was  "made  in  His  image." 


HUMAN  REASON  BOOK  OF  GOD  195 

The  Bible  is  God's  book,  but  so  is  the  physical 
universe  His  book  and  the  revelation  of  His  will. 
The  Scriptures  affirm  this  truth,  also,  when  they  say, 
"The  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God  and  the 
firmament  showeth  His  handiwork.  Day  unto  day 
uttereth  speech  and  night  unto  night  showeth  knowl- 
edge." Thus  God  has  three  books  instead  of  one. 
His  first  book  was  the  physical  universe,  His  second 
book  was  man  and  human  reason,  conscience  and 
experience.  And  then  He  added  the  third,  the  or- 
acles of  Divine  truth,  to  instruct  His  spiritual  atom, 
man,  in  the  essential  truths  of  life,  spiritual  being  and 
moral  perfection.  The  theologians  should  remember 
this,  and  the  scientists  should  read  and  study  all 
these  books. 

Man  is  a  second  edition  of  God  epitomized,  and  in 
hisenlighted  spiritual  nature  he  thinks  like  God,  reas- 
ons like  God,  and  has  the  moral  conscience,  goodness 
and  love  that  emanate  from  God.  All  these  books 
of  God  should  bear  the  same  infallible  testimony. 
The  Bible  should  be  in  accord  with  the  reason,  con- 
science and  experience  of  man,  and  both  with  the 
constitution  and  laws  of  the  physical  universe. 
Wherever  they  seem  to  differ  or  contradict  each 
other  it  is  because  we  do  not  understand  them, 
for  there  is  perfect  unity  and  harmony  in  all  creation. 

Flammarion  says  :  "Science  in  revealing  the  plan 
of  the  universe  will  show  that  the  moral  universe 
is  based  upon  the  same  plan,  that  both  worlds  form 
but  one  world  and  that  spirit  governs  matter.  The 
same  laws  rule  everywhere  and  make  the  vast  uni- 
verse a  unity.  All  the  ages  of  the  past  and  future 
are  one  with  the  present,  and  thinking  beings  will 
live  eternally  through  successive  and  progressive 


196  THE  UNIVERSE 

transformations.  Everything  progresses  toward 
supreme  perfection.  The  material  world  has  but 
an  apparent  existence,  and  the  reality  underlying 
it  is  a  force  imponderable,  invisible  and  intangible." 
Man  is  apparently  an  animal,  but  he  is  not;  that  is 
the  visible  side  of  his  nature  and  is  deceptive. 

All  he  beholds  is  apparent.  The  reality  is  some- 
thing altogether  different.  The  sun  seems  to  re- 
volve around  the  earth,  and  the  earth  seems  to 
stand  still.  The  reverse  is  true.  We  dwell  upon  the 
surface  of  a  body  revolving  in  space  and  projected 
with  a  velocity  seventy-five  times  greater  than  the 
speed  of  a  cannon  ball. 

We  hear  a  harmony  of  sweet  sounds  which  charm 
our  senses.  The  sound  does  not  exist;  it  is  an  im- 
pression made  upon  our  sense  of  hearing  by  vibra- 
tions of  the  atmosphere  which  themselves  emit  no 
sound.  Without  the  auditory  nerve  and  brain  there 
would  be  no  sound.  In  reality  there  is  only  motion 
in  the  ether. 

The  rainbow  expands  its  radiant  circle,  the  rose 
and  lily  sparkle  in  the  sunshine;  the  green  fields 
and  golden  grain  diversify  the  landscape  by  their 
vivid  colors.  But  there  are  no  colors;  there  is  no 
light;  there  are  only  undulations  in  the  air  that 
set  the  optic  nerve  vibrating.  The  sun  warms  and 
fertilizes,  the  fire  burns,  but  there  is  no  heat,  only 
the  sensation  of  heat.  Heat,  like  light,  is  only  the 
result  of  motion — invisible,  all-potent,  supreme.  Here 
is  a  solid  iron  joist  sustaining  tons  of  enormous 
weight,  yet  the  joist  is  composed  of  molecules  which 
do  not  touch  each  other  and  are  in  continual  mo- 
tion. What  constitutes  the  solidity  of  this  bar  of 
iron?  Not  the  atoms  that  compose  it;  but  the  cause 


HUMAN  REASON  BOOK  OF  GOD  197 

of  its  solidity  is  molecular  attraction,  the  invisible 
force  of  magnetic  attraction. 

The  present  scientific  theories  have  only  been  ap- 
prehended by  the  brightest  intellects  within  the  last 
half  century,  and  would  have  been  a  conglomeration 
of  absurdities  to  the  wisest  men  of  the  world  a  cen- 
tury ago.  So,  written  revelation  had  to  use  the  lan- 
guage and  symbols  understood  by  the  ancients. 
And  it  seems  that  scientific  evolution  is  constantly 
struggling  for  new  terms  to  express  new  ideas  and 
discoveries. 

Some  scientists  believe  it  impossible  for  the  ter- 
restrial being  to  attain  a  complete  knowledge  of 
the  truth  because  he  has  only  five  senses,  and  a  mul- 
titude of  the  phenomena  of  nature  remains  unknown 
to  his  mind  because  he  has  no  means  by  which  to 
reach  them.  Just  as  if  we  should  be  unable  to  see 
if  deprived  of  the  optic  nerve,  or  to  hear  if  deprived 
of  the  auditory  nerve.  Our  terrestrial  harp  may 
be  wanting  in  many  chords  which  prevent  us  from 
catching  the  perfect  harmony  and  truth  of  the 
universe.  It  is  said  the  smallest  magnet  can  more 
easily  than  Newton  or  Leibnitz  discover  the  mag- 
netic pole,  and  the  swallow  has  more  knowledge  of 
the  varieties  of  latitude  than  had  Columbus  or 
Magellan.  But  whatever  our  experience,  it  is  a  part 
of  the  book  of  God  and  nature. 

Flammarion  says  :  "No  one  who  is  aware  of  the 
progress  made  in  the  exact  sciences  of  to-day  can 
pretend  to  be  a  materialist.  The  psychic  atom, 
the  principle  of  the  human  organism  would  be  im- 
mortal, like  atoms  everywhere,  if  scientists  were  to 
admit  the  fundamental  axioms  of  chemistry.  But 
it  would  be  superior  to  atoms,  and  be  conscious 


198  THE  UNIVERSE 

of  its  existence.  Can  the  soul  partake  of  the  char- 
acter of  electricity?  We  conceive  that  it  exists  as 
force  that  survives  the  dissolution  of  the  body." 

I  conceive  the  soul  controls  electricity,  which  is 
the  right  hand  of  its  power,  and  the  tongue  of  the 
spirit,  and  survives  in  conscious  power  "the  wreck 
of  matter  and  the  crush  of  worlds."  "Whither  does 
the  soul  go?"  asks  the  same  author,  and  he  an- 
swers "to  other  worlds.  Yes,  living  principles  of 
force  can  transport  them  from  one  world  to 
another."  I  agree  with  him.  I  believe  they  go  to 
other  worlds,  and  the  other  worlds  are  perfected 
sun-worlds.  We  must  not  think  that  the  soul  belongs 
to  some  supernatural  world.  There  is  nothing 
that  is  not  in  nature.  Nature  is  unceasing  prog- 
ress. It  is  only  a  few  thousand  years  since  ter- 
restrial humanity  emerged  from  its  chrysalis  state  of 
being.  Yet  certain  spirits  have  attained  tran- 
scendent power,  and  humanity  has  produced  a 
Shakespeare,  a  Goethe,  a  Hugo,  a  Newton,  and  a 
Milton.  We  live  in  reality  among  the  stars. 

We  are  inhabitants  of  the  skies.  Life,  light  and 
eternal  progress  to  perfection  is  the  final  end  and 
purpose  of  the  universe.  Every  thinking  man  feels 
in  his  moral  and  psychic  nature  that  he  is  linked 
to  justice,  truth  and  Deity. 

Maeterlinck,  the  Danish  philosopher,  sustains  this 
thought  in  his  latest  work  when  he  says  :  "  Though 
nature  appears  unjust  and  nothing  authorizes  us 
to  declare  that  a  superior  power  rewards  or  pun- 
ishes here  or  elsewhere,  it  is  none  the  less  certain 
that  an  image  of  that  invisible,  incorruptible  jus- 
tice we  have  vainly  sought  in  the  sky  or  the  uni- 
verse reposes  in  the  depths  of  the  moral  life  of  every 


HUMAN  REASON  BOOK  OF  GOD  199 

man.  It  will  not  add  to  or  take  from  our  wealth, 
it  will  bring  no  immunity  from  disease  or  lightning, 
it  will  not  prolong  one  hour  the  life  of  the  being  we 
cherish;  but  if  we  have  learned  to  reflect  and  to 
love,  it  will  establish  in  heart  and  brain  a  content- 
ment that  shall  still  be  inexhaustible  and  noble. 

"It  will  confer  a  dignity  of  existence,  an  intelli- 
gence, that  shall  suffice  to  sustain  our  life  after  the 
loss  of  our  wealth,  after  the  stroke  of  disease  or 
lightning  has  fallen,  after  the  loved  one  has  forever 
quitted  our  arms." 

It  is  said  Jesus  was  a  chosen  medium  to  commu- 
nicate to  the  people  of  the  earth  the  higher  senti- 
ment of  love  which  prevails  in  the  sphere  of  spirit 
life.  His  mission  was  to  teach  the  doctrine  of  love 
to  humanity,  and  to  afford  a  striking  and  never  to 
be  forgotten  example  of  its  violation. 

This  same  Jesus  taught  that  God's  law  is  written 
in  the  hearts  of  men,  and  to  those  who  listen  to  His 
voice — the  still,  small  voice  of  the  spirit — "  He  moveth 
in  them  to  will  and  to  do  according  to  His  good 
pleasure."  This  shows,  as  -Maeterlinck  says,  "That 
the  invisible  justice  that  reposes  in  the  moral  life  of 
every  man"  comes  from  God  and  His  epistle,  written 
on  the  secret  tablets  of  the  human  soul. 

Gold  win  Smith  says:  "It  will  be  found  that 
Anarchism  and  Atheism  generally  went  together. 
But  minds  of  the  finer  cast  have  preserved  the  re- 
ligious spirit  while  they  have  thrown  off  the  shackles 
of  creed.  Yet  the  Positivest  feels  the  need  of  a  re- 
ligion, and  for  the  worship  of  God  he  substitutes 
the  worship  of  humanity.  Humanity  is  an  abstrac- 
tion, an  imperfect  abstraction.  It  cannot  hear 
prayer  or  respond  in  any  way  to  adoration.  The 


200  THE  UNIVERSE 

adherents  of  Comte's  religion,  therefore,  are  few. 
Tindall  and  Huxley  would  console  us  for  the  loss  of 
religion  by  substituting  the  majesty  of  law.  But 
the  idea  of  law  implies  an  intelligent,  authoritative 
imponent  of  some  kind.  There  is  no  majesty  in  a 
sequence. 

"The  all-embracing  philosophy  of  Herbert  Spencer 
excludes  the  supernatural  and  Theism  in  its  ordinary 
form,  and  looks  upon  them  as  the  Unknowable, 
which  he  presents  as  an  object  of  reverence.  But 
unknowableness  in  itself  excites  no  reverence,  even 
though  it  be  supposed  infinite  and  eternal.  Noth- 
ing excites  our  reverence  but  a  person,  or  at  least 
a  moral  being."  Thus  does  Gold  win  Smith,  the 
great  Freethinker  of  to-day,  demolish  the  Free- 
thinkers of  yesterday,  the  Tindalls,  Huxley s  and 
Darwins  of  Materialism,  the  Comtes  and  Yoltaires  of 
Atheism,  and  the  Herbert  Spencers  and  Ingersolls  of 
Agnosticism,  and  contends  for  the  inexorable  neces- 
sity of  a  personal  deity  with  intelligent  moral  or 
spiritual  power.  He  says  the  present  tendency  is 
"to  minimize  the  supernatural  and  throw  it  into 
the  background,  bringing  the  personal  character  of 
Christ  and  his  ethical  teachings  into  the  fore- 
ground," and,  "the  legemen  of  reason  should  consider 
to  how  great  an  extent  our  civilization  has  hitherto 
rested  on  religion." 

Abstract  humanitarianism,  and  scientific  natural- 
ism do  not  constitute  a  moral  standard,  nor  can 
scientific  postulates  be  made  a  basis  for  moral  cul- 
ture. Only  when  acted  upon  by  man  does  nature 
give  response  to  the  increasing  purpose  of  the  world, 
and  the  supreme  test  is  spiritual.  Religious  truths 
are  fundamental  truths.  First,  the  existence  and 


HUMAN  REASON  BOOK  OF  GOD  201 

personality  of  God;  second,  His  creation  and  gov- 
ernment of  the  universe;  third,  man's  immortality 
and  freedom  of  will.  These  are  not  contradicted 
by  the  solid  facts  of  science  nor  shattered  by  "the 
great  eternal  iron  laws  of  the  universe."  On  the 
contrary  all  harmonize  with  these  great  truths. 

Emperor  William  of  Germany  in  his  letter  to 
Admiral  Holbrun,  Feb.  20,  1903,  says:  "I  distin- 
guish between  two  different  kinds  of  revelation — 
progressive  and,  as  it  were,  historical,  the  other 
purely  religious.  It  does  not  admit  of  a  doubt 
that  God  reveals  Himself  continuously  in  the  race 
of  men  created  by  Him.  He  breathes  into  man 
the  breath  of  His  life,  and  follows  with  fatherly 
love  and  interest  the  development  of  the  human  race. 
In  order  to  lead  it  forward  and  develop  it,  He  re- 
veals Himself  in  this  or  that  great  sage,  whether 
priest  or  king,  whether  among  the  heathen,  Jews 
or  Christians.  Hammurabi  was  one,  so  was  Moses, 
Abraham,  Homer,  Charlemagne,  Luther,  Shake- 
speare, Goethe,  Kant,  and  Emperor  William  the 
Great.  These  he  sought  out  and  endowed  with  his 
grace  to  accomplish  splendid,  imperishable  results 
for  their  people  in  their  intellectual  and  physical 
provinces  according  to  His  will."  Emperor  Wil- 
liam seems  from  these  statements  to  be  a  firm  be- 
liever in  spiritual  revelation  and  personal  inspiration. 

"The  second  form  of  revelation,  the  more  reli- 
gious," he  said,  "is  that  which  leads  to  the  man- 
festation  of  our  Lord.  It  was  introduced  with 
Abraham,  slow  but  forward  looking  and  omniscient, 
for  humanity  was  lost  without  it.  Now  begins  the 
most  astonishing  activity  of  God's  revelation. 
Abraham's  race  and  the  peoples  developing  from  it, 


202  THE  UNIVERSE 

regard  faith  in  one  God  as  their  holiest  possession, 
and  it  follows,  hold  fast  to  it  with  iron-like  con- 
sistency. It  was  the  direct  intervention  of  God  that 
caused  the  rejuvenation  of  His  people  through  cen- 
turies, till,  the  Messiah,  heralded  by  prophets  and 
psalmists,  finally  appeared,  the  greatest  revelation 
of  God  in  the  world,  for  He  appeared  in  the  Son 
Himself.  Christ  is  God — God  in  human  form.  He 
redeemed  us,  and  inspires  and  entices  us  to  follow 
Him.  We  feel  His  fire  burning  in  us.  His  sympathy 
strengthens  us.  His  discontent  destroys  us.  But 
also  His  intercession  saves  us.  Conscious  of  victory, 
building  solely  upon  His  word,  we  go  through  labor, 
ridicule  sorrow,  misery  and  death,  for  we  have  in 
Him  God's  revealed  word.  That  is  my  view  of  these 
matters.  It  is  to  me  self-evident  that  the  Old  Tes- 
tament contains  many  sections  which  are  of  a  purely 
human  and  historical  nature  and  are  not  God's 
revealed  word.  These  are  merely  historical  descrip- 
tions of  incidents  of  all  kinds  which  happen  in  the 
political,  religious,  moral  and  intellectual  life  of 
this  people." 

This  letter  of  Emperor  William  was  in  reply  to 
Prof.  Delitzsch,  who  contended  that  Moses  and  the 
Israelites  got  their  laws  and  religion  from  the  Baby- 
lonians. The  recent  discoveries  in  Asia  Minor  seem 
to  refute  Delitzsch,  especially  those  at  Nippur. 

Nippur  is  situated  between  the  Euphrates  and 
Tigris  in  Babalonia.  It  is  one  of  the  oldest  towns 
spoken  of  in  the  Scriptures.  The  famous  temple, 
library  and  school  for  priests  cover  an  area  of  thir- 
teen acres,  and  are  pronounced  the  most  far-reaching 
archeological  discoveries  of  the  century.  Only  about 
one-twelfth  part  of  the  library  has  been  uncovered, 


HUMAN  REASON  BOOK  OF  GOD  203 

out  of  which  over  twenty  thousand  cuneiform  tablets 
and  fragments  have  been  obtained  belonging  to  the 
era  three  thousand  years  before  Abraham,  or  nearly 
six  thousand  years  before  our  time. 

These  show  strong  evidence  of  civilization  and  cul- 
ture. There  have  been  found  evidences  that  free- 
hand drawing,  clay-modeling  and  sculpture  were 
taught.  There  were  found  works  of  reference,  scien- 
tific treatises,  and  various  technical  volumes  on 
astronomical  and  religious  subjects. 

These  discoveries  show  the  knowledge  and  culture 
that  existed  in  the  days  of  Abraham,  and  are  a 
powerful  demonstration  of  the  unshaken  truth  of 
Old  Testament  prophesies. 

Prof.  Hilprecht,  who  made  these  excavations  and 
discoveries,  says:  "As  the  attempt  has  recently 
been  made  to  trace  the  pure  Monotheism  of  Israel 
to  Babylonian  sources,  I  am  bound  to  declare  this 
an  absolute  impossibility,  on  my  basis  of  fourteen 
years'  researches  in  Babylonian  cuneiform  inscrip- 
tions. The  faith  of  God's  chosen  people  is  :  '  Hear, 
O  Israel !  the  Lord  our  God  is  one  Lord,'  and  this 
faith  could  never  proceed  from  the  Babylonian  moun- 
tain of  gods — that  charnel-house  full  of  corruption 
and  dead  men's  bones." 

The  fact  is,  as  far  as  I  am  able  to  judge,  every 
recent  discovery  of  science  tends  to  sustain  the 
essential  truths  of  the  Bible,  and  confirm  the  re- 
ligious concept. 

Those  who  think  that  religion  is  losing  its  power 
should  remember  that  thousands  of  converts  are 
added  to  the  churches  daily,  and  fifteen  church 
buildings  on  an  average  are  erected  every  day  in 
the  United  States  alone.  And  there  are  besides 


204  THE  UNIVERSE 

thousands  of  persons,  like  myself,  of  a  thoughtful, 
religious  nature  who  are  not  members  of  any  religi- 
ous order. 

Scientists  should  omit  from  their  works  all  spirit 
of  antagonism  to  religious  faith.  Such  antagonism 
impairs  the  usefulness  of  their  works,  and  is  an 
offence  against  public  morals,  public  security,  and 
man's  aesthetic  nature  and  psychic  advancement. 
Religion  has  helped  to  develop  the  spiritual  life  of 
the  race,  and  is  the  anchor  of  all  good  society, 
good  government  and  exemplary  conduct  in  man. 

The  religious  faith  and  even  superstitions  whicji 
some  scientists  rail  at  with  such  vehemence  was  a 
necessary  phase  of  human  history  and  experience 
to  lift  the  human  race  to  a  higher  plane  of  spir- 
itual power.  Science  has  passed  through  the  same 
phases  of  credulity  and  superstition. 

Whiskey,  wines,  and  intoxicants  once  had  their 
useful  phase  in  arousing  the  sluggish  brains  of  our 
half-civilized  ancestors  to  higher  realms  of  thought 
and  perception.  So,  what  now  seem  the  most  absurd 
superstitions  once  had  their  usefulness  in  deterring 
men  from  crime  and  causing  them  to  lead  better 
lives.  The  dread  of  physical  punishment  hereafter, 
and  the  fear  of  a  hell  and  a  devil  that  never  ex- 
isted, had  a  salutary  effect  on  countless  millions  of 
the  past  which  no  moral  persuasion  or  scientific 
arguments  could  have  reached.  But  all  intoxicants 
with  their  blighting  curse,  and  all  superstitions  with 
their  blinding  ignorance  have  had  their  day  of  use- 
fulness and  should  be  relegated  to  the  dark  tomb 
of  oblivion. 

The  solemn  cathedral,  the  soft-toned  organ,  the 
mellow  light  from  colored  windows,  the  awe  and 


HUMAN  REASON  BOOK  OP  GOD  205 

anxious  faith,  have  added  soul  development  and 
psychic  power  to  human  life. 

The  mother  who  bowed  in  prayer,  the  father  who 
assembled  his  children  around  the  family  altar, 
have  added  spiritual  power  to  themselves  and  their 
posterity  for  all  generations. 

And  it  is  the  honest,  home-loving,  God-fearing  and 
praying  mothers  and  fathers  of  the  past  three  cen- 
turies that  have  made  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  and 
the  civilization  of  to-day  what  it  is. 

The  Bible  says  truly,  "to  be  spiritually  minded 
is  life,"  and  to  be  worldly  minded  is  to  lead  us  back 
to  pagan  selfishness,  when  cruelty  was  a  pastime, 
and  poisoning  and  assassination  were  fine  arts. 

This  book  of  God  we  call  man  is  bound  in  imper- 
ishable atoms  that  dissolve  into  viewless  ether,  and 
are  tied  together  with  electric  bands  as  pliable  as 
silk  and  as  invisible  as  thought,  and  the  spirit  they 
enwrap  is  as  strong  and  enduring  as  omnipotence. 

The  statement  is  often  made  to  the  prejudice  of 
religion  that  religion  has  been  the  cause  of  most 
of  the  wars  and  cruelties  that  have  desolated  the 
earth  since  the  commencement  of  human  history. 
This  is  unjust  and  misleading.  Until  the  formation 
of  our  government,  church  and  state  were  united 
among  all  nations  and  politics  and  religion  were 
blended,  and  a  purely  religious  war  was  impossible. 
As  to  the  miracles  of  the  New  Testament,  if  they 
were  all  discredited  the  immaculate  teachings  of  the 
gospel  would  remain.  The  peculiar  glory  of  Chris- 
tianity is  the  regeneration  it  brings  to  man,  putting 
him  under  the  law  of  love;  and  without  miracles 
we  would  still  have  vital,  uplifting,  heaven-inspiring 
Christianity. 


206  THE  UNIVERSE 

As  to  the  infallibility  of  science,  she  has  nothing  to 
boast  of  over  religion.  Science  has  been  groping  her 
devious  way  from  colossal  blunder  to  blunder,  and 
championing  as  many  absurdities  and  superstitions 
through  all  the  ages  as  ever  the  religious  devotee 
dreamed  or  the  religious  concept  propagated.  She  is 
still  teaching  some  of  the  grossest  superstitions  and 
incredible  absurdities.  Science  has  received  nearly 
every  fundamental  truth  from  religion,  and  is  at 
last  steadily  developing  and  proving  the  true  re- 
ligious concept  of  the  universe,  in  showing  that 
all  visible  things  are  the  product  of  invisible  spirit, 
invisible  law  and  invisible  force;  that  the  spiritual 
and  invisible  world  is  the  supreme  reality;  that 
its  Creator  and  Ruler  must  be  the  Father  of  Spirits, 
and  virtually  re-echoes  the  words  of  Christ,  "God 
is  a  Spirit,  and  they  that  worship  Him  must  wor- 
ship Him  in  spirit  and  in  truth."  It  teaches  univer- 
sal love,  helpfulness  and  equality,  which  was  dem- 
onstrated by  Christ  when  He  called  for  water  and 
washed  the  feet  of  those  who  worshiped  Him.  This 
was  His  last  object  lesson,  so  little  understood  in 
Christian  philosophy .  But  ethical  and  psychic  science 
have  lifted  it  to  be  the  glory  of  perfected  civiliza- 
tion, and  endorsed  the  exalted  truth,  "Let  him 
that  is  greatest  among  you  be  the  servant  of  all." 

All  knowledge  and  truth  are  in  a  sense  inspired  rev- 
elation from  God,  whether  written  in  nature  or  the 
human  soul.  There  is  scientific  revelation  written 
in  physical  facts  and  recognized  by  the  senses; 
there  is  God's  revelation  written  in  the  secret  con- 
science and  reasoning  power  of  man,  and  they  natur- 
ally sustain  and  supplement  each  other  and  the  re- 
vealed truths  of  the  Scriptures. 


HUMAN  REASON  BOOK  OP  GOD  207 

It  may  be  that  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  was 
not  intended  so  much  as  an  infallible  record  of  the 
divine  order  in  the  creation  of  the  world  as  to 
teach  the  vastly  higher  spiritual  truth  that  creation 
is  the  work  of  God,  thus  leading  men  to  His  wor- 
ship and  away  from  the  lower  worship  of  sun,  moon 
and  heathen  deities. 

The  mechanical  conception  as  to  the  mode  of 
inspiration  and  revelation  tends  to  give  way  before 
a  larger  conception  of  the  process — that  God  speaks 
to  man  through  the  experience  of  the  events  of  life. 
Thus  revelation  becomes  a  living  process,  and  all 
later  history  may  become  a,  commentary  on  sacred 
histor}^  renewing  and  confirming  the  primal  utter- 
ance of  God  to  the  soul  of  man. 

The  reign  of  law,  which  was  little  understood  by 
the  ancients,  is  now  universally  accepted  and  en- 
dows the  human  race  with  new  powers.  It  also 
gives  new  conceptions  of  the  "  intelligibility  of 
nature,"  which  is  but  a  modern  scientific  term  for 
religion  or  the  reliance  on  the  will  and  wisdom  of 
Creative  Deity. 

Herbert  Spencer's  "  persistency  of  matter  and 
force"  is  but  another  expression  of  the  reign  of  law. 
And  as  law  is  the  result  of  an  intelligent  spiritual 
concept  and  impulse,  the  lawmaker  of  the  universe 
must  be  a  supreme,  intelligent,  spiritual  personality. 

And  the  reasoning,  intelligent  soul  of  man,  by  dis- 
covering the  immutable  laws  of  nature,  which  are  the 
unchanging  decrees  of  Deity,  has  learned  the  art  of 
controlling  the  great  powers  of  nature  for  the  use 
and  convenience  of  man. 

But  in  the  ultimate  analysis  it  is  God's  spirit 
and  will  that  control  the  universe,  and  man's  spirit 


208  THE  UNIVERSE 

and  will  which  evolve  the  art  of  controlling,  and 
masters  the  great  powers  of  nature. 

Therefore,  we  must  look  to  the  powers  of  the  mind 
to  subdue  all  other  powers.  This  it  does  by  con- 
structive reason  and  vitalizing  faith.  By  construc- 
tive reason  it  builds  bridges,  tunnels  mountains, 
operates  engines,  telegraphs  and  all  the  appliances 
of  modern  commerce.  By  vitalizing  faith  it  renews 
and  strengthens  body  and  soul,  and  seems  to  work 
the  miracles  of  God. 

Prof.  Osier  says  :  "  Faith  is  a  most  precious  com- 
modity. Faith  is  the  great  lever  of  life.  Without 
it  man  can  do  nothing,  with  it  all  things  are  pos- 
sible. Galen  says  :  '  Confidence  and  hope  do  more 
good  than  physic.'  Faith  in  the  gods  or  the  saints 
cures  one,  faith  in  little  pills  another,  hypnotic  sug- 
gestion a  third,  and  faith  in  a  plain,  common  doctor 
a  fourth.  In  all  ages  the  prayer  of  faith  has  healed 
the  sick,  and  the  mental  attitude  of  the  suppliant 
seems  to  be  of  more  consequence  than  the  powers 
to  which  the  prayer  is  addressed." 

Miracles,  says  criticism,  belong  to  an  age  of  igno- 
rance. With  the  dawn  of  knowledge  they  diminish. 
In  its  meridian  light  they  disappear. 

The  Jews  were  eminently  addicted  to  belief  in 
miracles.  With  them  there  was  satanic  miracle  as 
well  as  divine.  They  believed  in  persons  being  pos- 
sessed by  devils,  and  all  efforts  to  disentangle  them 
from  the  demoniac  miracles  and  to  resolve  them  into 
cures  of  lunacy  by  moral  influence  was  vain. 

Comte  totally  discards  belief  in  God,  but,  feeling 
the  need  of  a  religion,  substituted  the  worship  of 
humanity.  Humanity  is  an  abstraction  by  itself, 
but  combined  with  the  Christianity  and  the  mono- 


HUMAN  REAvSON  BOOK  OF  GOD  209 

theism  of  the  New  Testament,  it  is  the  perfection  of 
ethics  and  religion.  They  who  preach  the  religion 
of  humanity,  morality  and  true  socialism  will  find 
it  more  perfectly  taught  in  the  New  Testament,  with 
nobler  incentives  and  higher  inspiration  and  spiritu- 
ality, than  elsewhere  in  human  history.  And  it  ac- 
cords more  perfectly  with  the  book  of  truth,  written 
in  the  reason  and  conscience  of  man. 

Prof.  C.  F.  Kent  of  Yale,  says  :  "  There  is  no  con- 
flict between  science  and  religion.  The  Bible  does 
not  pretend  to  teach  science,  but  does  speak  with 
authority  with  regard  to  questions  of  morality  and 
religion. 

"The  pathetic  fact  is  that  the  fundamental 
spiritual  truths  the  Bible  narratives  seek  to  teach 
are  lost  sight  of  in  the  contention  for  historical 
accuracy,  which  was  entirely  secondary  with  the 
authors.  The  prophets  used  ancient  narratives,  the 
same  as  Jesus  used  parables,  to  illustrate  spiritual 
truths." 

Dr.  Beet,  of  Wesleyan  College,  England,  denies  that 
either  "the  endless  suffering  or  the  extinction  of  the 
wicked  is  taught  in  the  Scriptures,"  and  says : 
"  Very  few  Wesleyans  now  adhere  to  Wesley's  teach- 
ings concerning  it." 

The  essential  truths  of  the  Bible  are  just  as  true 
without  miracles  as  with  them.  Christ  said  a 
wicked  and  perverse  generation  seeketh  a  sign  or 
miracle. 

Truth  is  inherently  true  and  needs  no  miracle  to 
confirm  it.  And  the  tendency  of  all  ancient  writers, 
as  well  as  those  of  the  Bible,  to  exaggerate  natural 
phenomena  into  wonders  and  miracles  cause  many 
to  discard  the  great  truths  of  revelation.  I  under- 

14 


210  THE  UNIVERSE 

took  to  show  how  Joshua  might  have  mistaken  a 
luminous  aurora  borealis  for  the  sun  standing  still. 
And  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  a  mistranslation 
is  responsible  for  the  story  of  Jonah  and  the  big 
fish.  Somewhere  in  ancient  history  I  got  the  idea 
that  the  pirate  boats  in  ancient  times  were  called, 
"the  big  fish."  If  so  Jonah  might  have  been  cap- 
tured by  the  pirates  after  being  thrown  overboard, 
and  put  in  the  hole  or  belly  of  the  boat,  and  after 
three  days,  seeing  no  prospect  of  a  ransom,  was 
thrown  onto  the  land.  God  may  have  prepared  the 
pirates  and  boat  for  this  purpose  and  a  miracle 
would  be  unnecessary.  The  writers  of  that  day 
would  say  Jonah  was  swallowed  by  "the  big  fish," 
meaning  the  pirates  captured  him,  and  centuries 
afterwards  the  translators  would  make  a  great 
miracle  out  of  it.  Take  many  of  our  modern  ex- 
pressions, as,  "the  ship  and  sailors  went  to  Davy 
Jones' locker;"  if  centuries  hence  our  language  should 
become  obsolete,  the  translators  would  say,  "the 
ship  was  in  a  great  storm,  and  it  and  the  sailors 
were  all  saved  by  running  into  David  Jones'  big 
chest."  That  would  be  a  literal  translation,  but 
would  not  state  the  facts.  Take  another  illustration. 
In  the  war,  "a  company  was  lost  in  the  woods  and 
was  gobbled  up  by  the  enemy."  A  future  transla- 
tion would  read,  "a  company  of  soldiers  was  lost 
in  the  woods  and  a  ferocious  turkey  gobbled  and 
eat  them  all  up."  Either  of  these  would  make  a 
greater  miracle  than  Jonah  and  the  whale. 

I  mention  this  to  show  how  easy  it  is  to  mistrans- 
late an  obsolete  language,  especially  an  Oriental 
language,  always  so  full  of  figures  of  speech,  hyper- 
bole and  parables. 


HUMAN  REASON  BOOK  OF  GOD  211 

There  is  the  wonderful  capture  of  the  city  of 
Jericho.  When  the  Israelites,  under  Joshua,  marched 
round  it  seven  times,  and  blew  seven  long  blasts  on 
their  ramshorns,  the  walls  fell.  Now,  the  spies  may 
have  reported  to  Joshua  the  weakness  of  the  walls, 
and,  by  marching  round  them  seven  times,  caused  the 
people  of  the  city  to  crowd  onto  the  walls,  and  the 
vibrations  of  the  horns  caused  them  to  fall. 

We  know  that  the  vibrations  of  thunder  or  cannon 
or  any  loud  noise  has  caused  many  a  house  to  fall, 
and  would  endanger  any  weak  building  or  wall.  I 
believe  that  if  every  miracle  in  the  Bible  was  dis- 
approved or  shown  to  be  a  natural  event  it  would 
not  destroy  or  affect  a  single  important  truth  it 
teaches. 

While  I  believe  the  brave  and  honest  man  will 
refuse  happiness  at  the  expense  of  truth,  I  must 
partly  agree  with  Luckey,  the  historian,  who  says 
we  owe  more  to  our  illusions  than  to  our  knowledge ; 
that  superstition  appeals  to  our  hopes  as  well  as 
our  fears,  and  often  meets  and  gratifies  the  inmost 
longings  of  our  heart.  Imagination,  which  is  alto- 
gether constructive,  contributes  more  to  our  happi- 
ness than  reason,  which  is  mainly  critical  and  de- 
structive. He  says:  "The  rude  charm  clasped  by 
the  savage,  the  sacred  picture  protecting  the  poor 
man's  cottage,  can  bestow  a  more  real  consolation 
in  the  darkest  hour  of  human  suffering  than  the 
grandest  theories  of  philosophy."  This  was  more 
distinctly  true  in  the  early  history  of  the  human 
race,  when  ignorace  and  superstitious  wonder  domi- 
nated all  minds  and  all  important  events  were 
deemed  supernatural  or  miraculous. 

Take  the  superstitious  worship  of  the  Virgin  Mary; 


212  THE  UNIVERSE 

its  beneficence  to  the  human  race  is  beyond  all 
human  calculation.  It  helped  to  elevate  and  spirit- 
ualize woman  and  lift  her  offspring  and  the  genera- 
tions of  men  to  a  higher  spiritual  plane. 

Romantic  love  between  the  sexes  was  never  known, 
so  history  teaches  us,  until  the  worship  of  the  Virgin 
Mary  became  universal  throughout  Christendom. 
No  such  sentiment  existed  in  Greece  or  Rome  or 
any  pagan  country,  and  none  exists  now  in  any 
pagan  or  Mohammedan  land.  There  women  are 
still  treated  as  chattels  and  denied  a  soul.  We 
should  remember  that  for  man  all  religions  were 
instituted,  all  books  written,  all  science  formulated, 
all  literature  ennobled,  all  progress  inspired,  and 
all  art  made  beautiful. 

Human  reason,  the  perfection  of  the  universe  and 
the  words  of  revelation  all  teach — 

Man's  soul  is  part  of  Deity,  and  as  immortal  as  its  Creative  God. 

Death  is  but  a  shadow  across  its  path  of  destiny. 
To  the  soul  there  is  no  grave;  the  tomb  cannot  grasp  its  view- 
less form; 

Earth  is  but  its  birthplace — the  cradle  of  its  infancy — 
Where  it  drops  its    cumbrous  wrappings  for  the  wings  of  immor- 
tality. 
Time,  the  vestibule  of  eternity,  is  where  it    points  its  course 

and  takes  its  leap 
Into    the  vast  unknown  toward  the   Infinite  and  Eternal,   and 

sweeps 

Out  upon  its  endless  progression  in  knowledge  and  perfection 
through  immensity  of  worlds. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

LOVE  IS   THE    ELECTRIC    LAW   OP    LIFE:     ALL    THAT 
LIVE  MUST  COME  FROM  LOVING 

GOD  is  love,  and  love  is  the  law  of  life  and  the 
creative  force  of  the  universe.  The  love  of  God  in 
the  soul  is  the  substance  and  life  of  all  religion. 
The  love  of  fellow-man  in  the  heart  is  the  founda- 
tion of  all  human  kindness  and  social  ethics.  As 
Dante  followed  his  beloved  Beatrice  from  world  to 
world  until  he  found  her  at  the  gates  of  Paradise, 
so  we  must  follow  our  loves  and  ideals  through  all 
the  tragic  incidents  of  existence  until  we  find  them 
as  guardian  angels  at  the  gates  of  celestial  glory 
and  creative  perfection. 

A  noble  character,  a  worthy  and  useful  life  of  ser- 
vice to  others  is  the  chief  purpose  and  crowning 
glory  of  all  earthly  existence.  Wealth  and  fame  are 
mere  incidents  in  the  fleeting  drama  of  human  ex- 
perience. 

All  true  greatness  is  in  the  beauty  and  grandeur 
of  the  soul.  It  must  come  from  within;  external 
manifestations  may  shadow  it  forth,  but  cannot 
produce  it. 

All  true  gentleness  and  kindness  are  a  reflex  of  the 
inner  life  of  love  and  willing  service.  We  live  in  the 
atmosphere  that  our  thoughts  and  spirits  breathe 
around  us,  and  by  opening  the  windows  and  doprs 


214  THE  UNIVERSE 

of  our  soul  to  love  we  inhale  the  perfume  from  other 
souls,  and  the  breath  of  life  from  Deity  Himself. 

Thoughts  are  forces,  and  through  them  we  have 
creative  power ;  but  they  must  be  winged  with  love 
to  manifest  divine  energy.  Every  act  is  preceded 
and  given  birth  to  by  a  thought,  the  act  repeated 
forms  the  habit,  the  habit  determines  the  character, 
and  character  determines  the  life  and  destiny. 

Everything  in  the  material  universe  has  its  origin 
first  in  the  spiritual  concept  or  thought,  and  from 
this  it  takes  its  form.  The  spoken  word  and  the 
mighty  deed  spring  from  the  potency  of  living 
thought,  and  life  is  a  tireless  swimmer  in  an  ocean 
of  thought.  Thought  is  the  conscious  energy  of  the 
soul,  the  subtle,  invisible  force  of  the  reasoning,  re- 
sistless mind,  and,  to  be  potent  with  life,  must  be 
winged  with  love.  Thought  is  everywhere  and  sur- 
rounds us  like  the  atmosphere  we  breathe.  When 
we  want  a  thought  we  should  reach  up  into  the 
air  for  it  with  the  caressing  hand  of  love,  and  it  will 
come  like  an  invisible  messenger  from  spirit  land. 
We  should  seek  thought  and  wisdom  in  the  intellectual 
zenith  of  our  own  minds,  and  not  from  mediums  or 
clairvoyants,  for  they  have  never  revealed  any  great 
truths. 

Thus  our  great  poets,  sages  and  prophets  have 
reached  up  into  the  spiritual  altitudes  and  gathered 
wisdom  and  truth  as  the  stars  are  gathered  and 
sparkle  in  the  glittering  mirror  of  night's  far  off 
and  measureless  spaces.  They  come  with  the  speed 
of  light  from  all  suns  and  spheres  in  the  jewelled 
crown  of  God's  eternal  expanse  of  love  and  life, 
they  whisper  wonderful  things  to  the  listening 
spirit  in  the  silent  chambers  of  the  dreaming  soul, 


LOVE  IS  THE  ELECTRIC  LAW  OF  LIFE  215 

and  they  come  like  angel  faces  in  the  visions  of 
night  and  paint  with  the  flaming  finger  of  antici- 
pated joy  the  glorious  beatitudes  of  immortality 
and  love.  There  is  the  science  of  thought  which 
brings  wisdom  and  success,  and  the  science  of  love 
that  brings  peace  and  joy.  It  is  a  beautiful  thing  to 
live.  Life  is  the  fine  art  of  the  soul,  the  literature  of 
the  spirit,  where  it  writes  its  hopes  and  achievements. 

It  is  the  theatre  of  all  possibilities  here  and  here- 
after, but  its  atmosphere  must  be  magnetic  with 
love  and  faith  where  the  spiritual  forces  may  battle 
and  exert  their  powers.  We  must  first  love  all  the 
world  if  we  would  have  the  world  love  us.  Only 
what  comes  from  the  heart  can  reach  the  heart  of 
the  world,  for  mankind  will  care  little  for  us  unless 
we  show  we  care  for  mankind.  But  what  man  ear- 
nestly desires  and  persistently  wills  and  strives  to 
accomplish  through  love  will  finally  be  attained. 
Love  and  goodness  are  all-powerful  and  will  event- 
ually conquer. 

The  first  cause  of  all  discontent,  weariness,  bitter- 
ness and  vanity  of  life  is  selfishness.  It  is  the  cor- 
rosive element  that  rusts  away  all  the  pure  gold 
of  energy  and  aspiration.  It  is  as  amazing  as  sad 
that  we  burden  ourselves  with  selfish  strivings  that 
are  of  no  consequence,  and  miss  the  gladness  and  ex- 
hilaration of  living.  For  no  life  is  successful  unless 
it  is  radiant  with  love  and  usefulness.  Emerson  says  : 
"Life  is  an  ecstasy  and  nothing  else  is  really  worth 
living.  Happiness  is  not  determined  by  a  bank 
account  or  the  flattering  incense  of  praise,  but  is 
a  mental  and  spiritual  condition." 

Ye  who  seek  liberty  know  this;  it  can  only  be 
found  in  the  liberty  of  your  fellow  men,  Ye  who  seek 


216  THE  UNIVERSE 

happiness  know  this ;  ye  can  only  find  it  in  the  hap- 
piness of  others,  and  if  you  desire  to  be  happy  you 
must  make  others  happy.  This  is  God's  eternal 
law  of  compensation — of  altruism — love  to  others; 
what  you  do  unto  others  you  do  unto  yourself. 
Look  upon  thy  fellow  man  with  wisdom  and  thou 
shalt  have  love.  Feel  for  thy  fellow  man  with 
love  and  thou  shalt  have  wisdom,  and,  having 
wisdom  and  love,  thou  hast  God  and  heaven 
in  thy  heart.  These  are  the  golden  rules  of  the 
New  Testament,  written  in  the  reason,  conscience 
and  experience  of  men,  as  God's  living  book  of  wis- 
dom and  truth. 

Every  action  has  its  rebound  or  echo.  Others 
will  return  your  love  or  hate  as  the  mountains  re- 
turn an  echo,  and  by  the  same  law.  " Whatsoever 
a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap."  The  hate 
you  send  forth  will  return  to  you,  the  love  you  gave 
will  come  back  to  you,  for  it  is  an  immortal  part 
of  you  and  a  part  of  Omnipotent  Deity. 

If  you  are  sick,  love  !  If  you  are  envied,  hated 
and  slandered,  love !  If  age  and  death  steal  upon 
you,  love  !  For  God  is  love,  and  heaven  is  love,  and 
love  is  life  eternal.  This  is  God's  law,  this  is  the 
law  of  man's  nature,  the  law  of  the  New  Testament, 
the  law  of  love  and  life,  the  law  of  the  universe. 

Whatever  may  be  man's  misfortune,  if  he  has  a 
love  of  humanity,  a  love  of  literature,  art  or  nature, 
he  has  resources  of  happiness  that  nothing  can  re- 
move. With  these  the  poor  man  is  rich,  and  the 
rich  man  can  never  be  poor.  For  each  by  love 
has  overcome  the  world.  Therefore  believe  and 
love,  and  hold  fast  to  the  conviction  that  the  forces 
of  life  are  divine  and  eternal,  and  their  laws  written 


LOVE  IS  THE  ELECTRIC  LAW  OF  LIFE  217 

in  the  reason  and  consciences  of  men,  and  that 
death  is  only  a  transition  from  our  world  to  another 
of  greater  beauty  and  perfection.  The  inadequacy 
of  earth-life  to  satisfy  the  soul's  capabilities  is  evi- 
dence that  its  career  must  continue  hereafter  in 
brighter  worlds  of  celestial  love  and  destiny. 

It  is  said  the  common  epitaph  of  humanity  is, 
"They  mean  well,  try  a  little  and  fail  much."  But 
if  love  is  their  guiding  star  and  they  obey  the 
dictates  of  their  reason  and  conscious  duty,  their 
lives  cannot  be  failures.  Most  of  our  troubles  and 
cares,  like  echoes,  do  not  exist  until  we  call  them 
forth.  But  sweet,  subdued  sorrow,  and  the  tears 
of  love  and  sympathy  that  spring  from  the  gen- 
erous heart  to  the  soulful  eyes,  are  like  heavenly 
dews,  and  promote  the  growth  of  the  soul.  They 
should  not  be  classed  among  the  depressing  trials. 
Neither  should  friendly  rivalry,  or  laudable  ambi- 
tion to  excel,  be  deemed  trying  aggressions,  for 
they  are  beneficial  phases  of  growth.  Humanity 
should  emancipate  itself  by  hitching  its  chariot  to 
the  star  of  love,  and  switching  the  current  of  human 
energy  from  the  circuit  of  worry  and  anger,  and 
connecting  it  with  the  motors  of  good  thoughts 
and  noble  deeds. 

All  men  should  realize  the  fact  that  anger  turns 
the  natural  juices  of  the  body  into  poison  as  the 
vibrations  of  thunder  sour  the  sweetest  milk.  And 
every  fit  of  anger  is  an  electric  trip-hammer  that 
drives  a  nail  into  the  coffin  of  life  and  shortens  hu- 
man existence.  All  nature  reveals  the  law  of  '  'nat- 
ural selection  and  survival  of  the  fittest,"  and  de- 
mands in  man  the  highest  perfection  of  love,  beauty 
and  self-development. 


218  THE  UNIVERSE 

The  culture  of  the  divine  essence  of  the  soul,  love 
and  ideality  will  eventually  emancipate,  exalt  and 
ennoble  human  life. 

Love  is  the  beginning  of  life.  Love  is  the  creative 
agency  of  all  human  and  animal  existence.  Even 
the  vegetable  world,  trees,  shrubs  and  flowers  have 
their  dual,  sexual  amities,  and  their  male  and  fe- 
male blending  in  the  love  of  unity  and  the  unity 
of  love,  and  thereby  propagate  and  continue  their 
species  in  the  ever  changing  cycles  of  life. 

All  that  live  must  come  from  loving.  The  posi- 
tive and  negative  circles  of  electric  and  spiritual 
forces  in  man  and  woman  must  be  broken  and 
reunited  in  a  combined  circle  of  dual  vitalizing 
growth  and  power  before  God's  first  command, 
' 'be  fruitful  and  multiply  and  replenish  the  earth," 
can  be  consummated. 

God  has  so  organized  the  universe  that  love  brings 
life  and  continues  it,  while  hatred  checks  all  the 
sweet  gushing  juices  and  joys  of  hope  and  life,  and, 
brings  death  and  darkness.  Love  commands  the 
electric  creative  forces  of  human  life  as  God  com- 
mands them  in  the  boundless  heavens.  Love  is  the 
elemental  part  of  God,  and  the  godly  part  of  man. 
And  he  whose  soul  is  diffused  with  love  is  enwrapt 
in  the  effulgent  drapery  of  Divine  goodness  and  joy. 

Woman  by  Divine  right  and  the  Supreme  decrees 
of  destiny  is  the  ministering  angel  of  love  and 
life,  apd  is  next  to  God  the  Creator  and  Preserver 
of  the  human  race. 

All  that  live  must  come  from  loving 

In  the  hallowed  name  of  wife, 
God  has  set  the  bounds  of  being 

And  the  joy  of  giving  life, 


LOVE  IS  THE  ELECTRIC  LAW  OF  LIFE  219 

Some  very  strong  writers  believe  man's  body  is  the 
product  of  the  thought  and  mental  force  of  his  pro- 
genitors. If  so,  the  mental  impulse  of  love,  and 
even  its  lower  form  of  animal  passion,  is  the  begetter 
of  the  human  race.  Mrs.  Josephine  Barton,  in 
"Mothers  of  the  Living,"  declares,  "The  .history  of 
flesh  has  its  beginning  in  the  male  atom,  and  exists 
as  an  unembodied  idea  in  mental  solution.  Think- 
ing results  in  ideas  and  ideas  crystallize  into  form. 
Thoughts  are  the  blocks  out  of  which  children  are 
made.  The  physical  gets  its  breath  of  life  from  the 
mental  or  spiritual.  The  first  avenue  of  develop- 
ment after  its  appearance  in  form  in  the  male  par- 
ent is  the  daily  and  hourly  thinking,  exercised  in 
the  mentality  of  the  parent.  These  atoms,  though 
microscopic,  are  the  brain  and  spinal  cord  of  the 
atom  man.  The  product  of  the  male  element  is 
judgment  and  will,  of  the  female  love  and  intuition ; 
so  the  atom  man  crystallizes  only  the  seat,  brain 
and  nerve  faculties.  This  structure — temple  of  the 
soul — like  the  acorn,  has  inherent  within  it  growth 
and  fruit  possibilities." 

She  arouses  useful  thought  and  adds  with  force 
and  eloquence,  "All  men  are,  by  their  daily  thinking, 
moulding  the  brain  and  spinal  cords  of  future  men. 

"O  men  of  earth !  what  qualities  are  you  weaving 
in  your  thread  of  thought?  Of  what  substance  are 
you  moulding  the  grand  army  of  the  future  race? 
Are  you  endowing  them  with  the  intellect  of  true 
manhood,  or  crystallizing  into  atoms  all  manner 
of  distorted  brains? 

"Our  bodies  are  bulletins  of  our  thoughts,  and 
the  male  atom  is  the  microscopic  beginning  of 
childlife,  and  when  expelled  from  the  loins  of  their 


220  THE  UNIVERSE 

progenitors,  become  the  'living  souls'  that  people  the 
cities  and  the  plains.  The  human  atom  thus  formed, 
when  imparted  into  the  custody  of  the  mother, 
is  ready  for  the  breath  of  life  which  the  mother 
mind,  by  love  and  intuition  will  breathe  into  it. 
The  temple  for  a  human  soul  is  thus  constructed. 
The  nourishment  then  given  is  as  pliant  to  thought 
as  the  ocean  to  a  raindrop,  and  prenatal  education 
is  most  important.  O  splendid  fact !  Be  lifted  up. 
thou  expectant  mother  of  the  living !  You  are  at 
liberty  to  take  the  helm  of  possibility  and  steer 
for  the  sunlit  isles  where  all  sons  are  gods.  The 
mother  should  be  herself  what  she  would  have  her 
child  be.  She  should  affirm  and  reiterate.  'I  am  the 
heir  of  all  wisdom,  the  expression  of  all  beauty, 
the  revelation  of  love  and  truth,  the  life  procla- 
mation of  the  Eternal.  I  am  serene,  radiant,  val- 
iant, loving,  aspiring,  knowing.'  Then  will  all  con- 
ceptions be  immaculate  and  all  human  life  glori- 
ous and  divine." 

I  maintain  that  woman  is  the  prototype  of  the 
godmother  of  the  universe,  who  is  the  third  per- 
son of  the  Trinity,  known  as  the  Holy  Ghost  or 
Comforter.  The  Trinity  of  the  theologians — three 
persons  in  one — is  contrary  to  all  human  reason 
and  logic.  It  contradicts  every  type  of  being  in 
universal  creation,  and  would  be  a  monstrosity  in 
natural  law  and  creative  experience.  It  defies  all 
analysis  and  subverts  all  law  of  animate  and  in- 
animate nature.  God  never  thus  contradicts  him- 
self, his  own  laws,  and  his  created  universe,  or  the 
book  of  nature  and  man's  reason;  and  no  such  doc- 
trine is  taught  in  the  New  Testament,  when  ana- 
lyzed by  a  true  construction  of  language. 


LOVE  IS  THE  ELECTRIC  LAW  OF  LIFE  221 

To  deny  the  Trinity  was  a  crime  punished  by 
death  a  century  or  two  ago  in  England ;  and  eccles- 
iastical authority  there  and  elsewhere  prescribed 
what  man  should  believe  for  centuries,  or  receive 
the  punishment  prescribed  by  law  or  the  Inquisi- 
tion. Until  recent  times  men  were  not  allowed  to 
think  for  themselves. 

But  reason  and  truth,  written  in  the  soul  of  man 
by  the  finger  of  Deity,  will  assert  its  divine  right 
to  correct  the  blunders  of  ignorance  and  superstition. 

And  as  it  was  many  ages  before  the  fatherhood 
of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of  man  was  discov- 
ered and  recognized,  so  it  required  modern  intelli- 
gence and  reason  to  place  woman  in  her  true  and 
God-given  position ;  and  recognize  in  God  the  Father, 
God  the  Son  and  God  the  Mother,  the  same  nat- 
ural trinity  in  heaven  as  exists  on  earth  in  father, 
mother  and  child.  The  book  of  nature,  and  the 
book  of  man's  reason  asserts  there  can  be  no  father 
or  son  without  a  mother.  They  would  be  an 
anomaly  in  nature,  unthinkable  and  impossible,  and 
if  there  is  a  Father  and  Son  in  heaven,  there  is  a 
Divine  Mother,  who  has  always  been  there  as  the 
companion  and  counselor  of  Deity,  and  is  also  the 
Divine  Comforter  of  all  human  souls.  And  if  there  is 
sex  in  all  nature,  it  is  reasonable  to  believe  there  is 
sex  in  the  family  of  Deity.  When  Christ  said,  "I 
and  my  Father  are  one,"  he  meant  one  in  purpose 
and  spirit. 

Up  to  the  recent  centuries,  woman  was  the  chat- 
tel slave  of  man,  kept  in  ignorance  and  degrada- 
tion, and  deemed  inferior  to  man,  and  the  past  ages 
would  not  recognize  her  divinity,  or  her  equality 
with  man.  But  now  she  stands  on  a  level  with 


222  THE  UNIVERSE 

man,  heart  to  heart,  and  brain  to  brain,  and  every 
true  man  offers  her  the  tribute  of  love  and  rever- 
ence, and  recognizes  that  in  all  the  realms  of  earth 
and  stars  there  is  no  being  so  worthy  of  love  and 
worship,  next  to  Deity,  as  the  mothers  of  men. 

They  are  the  saviors  of  mankind,  whose  vicarious 
suffering  has  brought  forth  and  redeemed  the  gen- 
erations of  men..  They  are  the  trees  of  life  in  God's 
earthly  garden,  whose  branches,  ladened  with  the 
fruits  of  love,  have  called  forth  the  mysterious  blos- 
soms of  being  to  bloom  in  the  fields  of  time  and 
people  the  land  of  immortal  spirits. 

The  beginning  of  civilization  was  when  the  mother 
bid  the  rude  men  of  the  forest  and  hill  to  build 
the  needed  shelter  in  grove  or  cave  to  protect  her 
and  her  helpless  offspring.  And  from  that  simple 
shelter  or  thatched-roofed  hut  has  sprung  the  vine- 
clad  cottage,  and  the  marble  palace,  and  the  family 
roof-tree  of  every  house  in  every  land.  It  was  the 
mothers  of  men  who  filled  up  the  broken  ranks  of 
war,  and  brought  peace,  and  wove  garments,  and 
refined  and  civilized  man  and  taught  him  the  arts 
and  commerce  of  civilized  life.  And  could  the 
mothers  control  the  destinies  of  nations,  their  lov- 
ing hearts  would  banish  war,  and  peace  would  be 
universal. 

And  the  most  precious  heritage  of  every  nation  on 
the  green  earth  is  the  nobility  of  its  mothers,  for 
without  noble  mothers,  it  can  have  no  worthy  and 
manly  men. 

All  nations  should  recognize  this  fact,  and  instead 
of  giving  pensions  to  those  who  destroy  life,  they 
should  give  them  to  those  who  multiply  and  re- 
plenish it,  and  make  a  nation  worthy  of  existence 


LOVE  IS  THE  ELECTRIC  LAW  OF  LIFE  223 

and  fame.  And  God  will  surely  bestow  on  the 
mothers  of  men  a  crown  of  eternal  glory  for  every 
life  added  to  his  empire  and  domain  of  deathless 
eternities. 

The  momentous  question  arises  in  this  busy  age 
of  travel  and  pleasure,  when  so  many  seek  the  luxuri- 
ous ease  of  opulence  and  avoid  as  far  as  possible 
all  cares  and  responsibility,  Will  the  emancipated 
womanhood  of  our  land  deny  the  law  of  love  and 
life,  written  in  the  heart  and  conscience  of  all  sen- 
tient beings,  and  decline  the  angelic  ministrations  of 
maternity?  Will  they  refuse  to  join  in  the  economy 
of  God  and  nature,  or  leave  this  high  and  holy 
vocation  to  the  ignorant  and  superstitious  of  our 
foreign  element?  If  so,  the  citizenship  of  our  be- 
loved nation  will  degenerate  with  each  succeeding 
generation. 

Will  the  modern  woman  seek  social  pleasures  and 
the  flattery  of  passing  admiration  in  lieu  of  home 
life  and  maternity,  and  be  satisfied  to  flutter  as  a 
gaudy  butterfly  of  fashion?  Will  her  womanly 
heart  find  the  prattle  of  a  baby  voice  and  the  pres- 
sure of  its  chubby  hands  upon  her  smiling  face, 
as  it  crows  in  her  loving  arms,  a  truer,  sweeter 
pleasure  than  the  social  triumphs  of  a  few  fleeting 
seasons?  A  joyous  child  brings  more  pleasure  to  a 
household  than  a  marble  palace  with  mahogany 
furniture  and  an  automobile. 

This  is  the  all-important  woman  question  of  the 
future — the  question  of  race  suicide.  For  the  entrance 
of  woman  into  all  the  vocations  of  business  life, 
the  tendency  to  avoid  domestic  cares,  the  laxity  of 
the  marriage  vows,  together  with  the  elimination 
of  homes  for  boarding  houses,  and  the  prevalence  of 


224,  THE  UNIVERSE 

divorces,  makes  it  a  serious  question  for  the  future. 
Already  this  pressing  vital  question  causes  the 
wisest  men  of  France  to  tremble  for  the  future  of 
their  race  and  nation,  for  its  shrinking  population 
is  forcing  it  from  the  rank  of  a  first-class  power 
to  the  humiliation  of  weakness  and  decay.  Will  they 
listen  to  France's  Macedonian  call  and  the  law  of 
love  and  life  written  in  their  womanly  natures? 

Humanity  of  the  past  and  present  is  not  final. 
It  shall  not  cease  at  the  present  development.  Hu- 
man society  was  never  static.  We  are  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  greatest  changes  in  human  history. 
There  will  be  no  shock,  but  the  transforming,  silent 
touch  of  universal  evolution,  whose  voice  speaks 
thus  :  "We  are  the  creatures  of  twilight,  but  out 
of  our  minds  and  the  lineage  of  our  minds  will 
spring  minds  that  will  reach  forward  fearlessly. 
A  day  will  come — one  day  in  the  unending  succes- 
sion of  days — when  the  beings  now  latent  in  our 
thoughts,  hidden  in  our  loins,  shall  stand  on  this 
earth  as  on  a  footstool,  and  they  shall  laugh  and 
reach  out  their  hands  among  the  stars." 

It  is  said  that  the  flower  which  opens  and  smiles 
upon  the  brink  of  an  abyss  is  like  love,  which  lives 
also  between  two  eternities.  It  is  the  most  human 
of  the  passions  and  at  the  same  time  the  most 
divine.  It  is  the  most  intimate  and  the  most  ethe- 
real ;  it  guides  the  poet  when  he  scales  the  skies  and 
lifts  the  soul  to  celestial  raptures. 

The  gifted  and  the  common  mind  are  alike 
troubled,  agitated  and  exalted  by  this  divinity  who 
evokes  their  silent  passions  and  stirs  their  slumber- 
ing fancy. 

Many  animals  change  their  form  and  color  in  the 


LOVE  IS  THE  ELECTRIC  LAW  OF  LIFE  225 

season  of  love,  and  man  is  similarly  affected  in  his 
psychic  nature.  Every  human  and  divine  element 
responds  to  the  witchery  of  the  god  of  love.  And 
new  colors  in  thought  and  character  appear,  and 
the  glowing  eye  glistens  with  changing  smile  or 
tear,  like  dewdrops  on  the  jewelled  face  of  morn. 
The  first  touch  of  poetry  lights  up  the  prosy  brain, 
the  first  ambitions,  brilliant  hopes,  struggles,  flashes 
of  genius,  and  heroic  resolves  spring  forth  like  liv- 
ing phantoms  at  the  magic  power  of  this  matchless 
magician  of  the  soul. 

Woman,  far  more  than  man,  is  reared  in  the  re- 
gions of  love,  and  has  more  leisure  to  reflect  on  the 
secret  movements  of  her  heart,  and  to  gather  the 
wisdom  and  beauty  of  love  and  distill  it  as  the 
rarest  perfume  of  life.  Love  is  woman's  crown 
of  divinity.  Love  lifts  man  to  his  highest  capabili- 
ties, noblest  enterprises  and  loftiest  ideals,  and 
makes  him  monarch  of  a  larger  and  more  beauti- 
ful world. 

The  history  of  man  shows  how  gross  and  abject 
natures  are  transformed  by  love.  How  dull  and 
stolid  minds  have  been  guided  by  it  to  paths  of 
honor  and  glory.  It  is  said  that  fame  and  science 
should  guard  themselves  from  love  as  from  a  dan- 
gerous enemy,  and  that  to  be  a  great  man  one 
must  love  their  art  alone  and  be  wed  only  to  their 
great  ambitions. 

Ah  !  but  for  one  genius  killed  by  love,  a  hundred 
owe  to  it  all  their  greatness  and  inspiration  and 
the  moving  force  of  life,  and  bless  it  as  superior  to 
fame  and  sweeter  than  all  the  laurels  of  victory 
or  the  plaudits  of  success. 

All  the  glory  of  art  and  science,  of  thrones  and 
15 


226  THE  UNIVERSE 

crowns,  is  inspired  by  the  love  of  woman.  This  was 
openly  proclaimed  in  the  heroic  and  chivalrous 
ages  and  should  still  be  held  in  grateful  remem- 
brance. 

If  love  does  not  always  elevate  and  refine  and 
work  the  miracles  of  its  magic,  it  is  because  men 
lower  their  ideals  of  women  and  love.  Woman  has 
a  stronger  thirst  after  the  ideal,  a  more  refined 
sensibility,  exquisite  fancy  and  poetic  nature  and 
aids  man  to  mount  to  loftier  actions  and  ideals. 
In  a  beautiful  picture,  Dante  is  below,  Beatrice 
above;  he  looks  at  her  and  is  thus  inspired,  while 
her  eyes,  fixed  upon  him,  seem  to  say  :  "Upward, 
upward ;  it  is  thither  we  must  go  together  ! "  It  is 
said  nothing  is  so  irresistible  as  the  enthusiasm  of 
woman.  Without  reason  for  believing,  without 
strength  for  hope,  sustained  solely  by  love,  she  is 
always  full  of  faith  for  the  great  and  beautiful 
things,  and  with  sublime  imprudence  cries,  "For- 
ward, forward!"  and  drags  man  to  the  most  dif- 
ficult summits  of  success. 

A  wise  man  says  :  "In  the  great  and  little  things, 
after  having  consulted  science  and  art,  experience 
and  imagination,  after  having  read  history  and  hu- 
man hearts,  also  always  consult  the  woman  you 
love,  whether  it  be  a  question  of  a  book  or  a  law,  or 
a  work  of  art,  or  of  business,  industry  or  poetry. 
She  will  certainly  have  something  new  to  tell  you." 
Ambition  often  fails  to  elevate  men,  they  die  with- 
out having  attained  their  full  measure  of  power. 
Only  the  love  of  woman  could  have  given  them  the 
energy  which  ambition  and  self-love  were  powerless 
to  bestow. 

In  the  past  ages  the  world  prated  much   about 


LOVE  IS  THE  ELECTRIC  LAW  OF  LIFE  227 

aristocracy.  There  have  been  four  kinds  of  aristoc- 
racy in  the  world's  history.  There  has  been  the 
aristocracy  of  muscle— the  supremacy  of  brute  force. 
This  was  followed  by  the  aristocracy  of  blood  or 
family  pedigree,  by  which  one  claimed  by  inheri- 
tance superiority  over  others.  Then  came  the  aris- 
tocracy of  wealth,  which  prevails  in  our  day,  where- 
by those  who  obtain  fortunes  by  birth,  accident, 
parsimony,  force  or  fraud,  claim  superiority  over 
others  less  sordid  or  less  fortunate.  But  the  true 
and  only  aristocracy  that  ever  has  or  ever  will 
exist  in  the  human  race  is  the  aristocracy  of  love 
and  goodness.  There  is  nothing  so  kingly  as  kind- 
ness, nothing  so  royal  as  truth,  and  nothing  so 
godlike  as  love. 

The  aristocracy  of  muscle  has  brought  misery  and 
distress  and  cursed  the  world  with  cruelty  and  op- 
pression ;  the  aristocracies  of  blood  and  wealth  have 
often  brought  sorrow  to  their  possessors,  and  proved 
a  rope  of  sand,  a  broken  reed,  a  Jonas'  gourd  that 
faded  in  a  night.  But  the  aristocracy  of  love  and 
goodness  is  God's  aristocracy,  and  belongs  to  the 
society  of  heaven.  It  is  a  part  of  the  family  of  Deity, 
and  possesses  the  wealth  of  the  universe.  It  is  the 
pride  of  celestial  hosts,  and  the  joy  and  blessing  of 
transient  mortality.  The  humblest  of  earth  may 
join  this  aristocracy  of  love  and  goodness  and  be 
a  prince  and  king  in  his  own  right,  by  royal  pre- 
rogative as  eternal  and  enduring  as  the  earth  and 
stars. 

Thus  we  find  that  love  is  the  spiritual  and  electric 
law  of  life,  and  the  crown-jewel  of  the  universe; 
that  it  gives  life  and  inspires  it;  that  all  the  crea- 
tions and  forces  of  nature  are  dual  and  sexual,  with 


228  THE  UNIVERSE 

love  as  the  supreme  sovereign  of  all  life  and  des- 
tiny. 

Magnificent  are  the  pyramids  of  Cheops,  but 
while  they  and  the  groves  of  gods  and  pillars  at 
Karnac  were  being  reared  for  a  tyrannous  nobility 
and  priesthood,  twenty  thousand  common  men 
agonized  and  died  in  the  quarries.  Beautiful  was 
Athens,  "The  City  of  the  Violet  Crown,"  when  the 
sunlight  flashed  from  the  Parthenon;  but  Aristodes 
was  banished  because  he  was  just,  and  Socrates  was 
murdered  because  he  taught  the  oneness  of  God. 
Rome  sat  on  her  seven  hills  and  ruled  the  world; 
but  men  were  butchered  in  the  arena  to  make  a 
Roman  holiday,  and  at  night  Christians  were  burned 
for  torches  to  light  up  Nero's  golden  house.  All 
this  was  because  love  had  not  exalted  the  ideals 
and  energized  the  wills  of  men. 

In  the  middle  ages  the  sound  of  the  chisels  carv- 
ing the  marble  dreams  of  Michael  Angelo  was 
drowned  by  the  shrieks  of  victims  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion; and  later  in  England,  villains  and  serfs,  even 
after  Magna  Charta,  were  hanged  for  stealing  five 
shillings.  In  our  own  land  Cotton  Mather  tells  us 
men  were  crushed  by  heavy  stones  upon  their  breast, 
as  punishment  for  petty  offenses,  and  witches  swung 
in  the  breezes  of  Salem;  and  less  than  fifty  years 
ago  human  slavery  was  sanctioned  by  law.  All 
these  horrors  and  the  cruelty  of  the  world  have  been 
because  men  have  not  let  love  illumine  the  soul 
and  energize  the  heart  of  humanity.  To-day  all 
this  is  changed.  The  aegis  of  the  law  protects  the 
humblest  citizen,  and  the  fate  of  nations  is  decided 
not  by  a  Hannibal  or  a  Charlemagne,  but  in  legis- 
lative halls  and  courts  of  justice.  And  all  men 


LOVE  IS  THE  ELECTRIC  LAW  OP  LIFE  229 

may  work  and  hope,  for  fame  is  waiting  with  willing 
laurels  for  souls  aglow  with  the  fires  of  love  and 
genius,  who  are  destined  to  be  torch  bearers  along 
the  highways  of  heavenly  harmonies. 

The  heaven  of  all  the  heavens  above, 
The  god  of  all  the  gods  is  Love. 

Carlisle,  that  rugged  old  thinker,  declared  that 
man  should  imitate  his  maker  and  "  Create,  create, 
create."  This  is  the  chief  object  of  life.  Not  alone 
in  the  propagation  of  his  race,  but  to  build  houses 
and  temples,  erect  monuments,  write  books,  fertilize 
deserts,  and  cause  the  earth  to  blossom  with  new 
flowers  of  fragrance,  and  new  thoughts  of  beauty. 

In  order  to  thus  glorify  life  and  make  it  a  divine 
ecstacy,  and  a  stepping-stone  to  celestial  worlds, 
love  must  be  the  guiding  star,  and  will  the  creative- 
impulse.  These  two  are  the  sovereign  forces  of  the 
universe  in  man  and  Diety;  and  uphold  and  con- 
trol all  others. 

Therefore  man  should  make  love  and  truth  his 
ideals,  and  will  his  sceptre  of  power,  and  with  each 
rising  sun  proclaim  : 

"These  two  things  should  no  man  forget  or  lose 
Or  sacrifice :   his  will  and  his  ideals. 
These  two  things  are  the  man.     In  leaving  them 
Behind  him  in  the  dust  of  broken  dreams 
He  leaves  himself.     His  nature  is  usurped. 

The  lesson  of  all  greatness  is  to  be 

That  which  we  are— out  to  our  farthest  bounds. 

To  lift  the  high  within  us  higher  still — 

To  delve  our  depths  with  a  profounder  depth— 

To  push  the  near  horizon  of  our  minds 

Out  past  immediate  things  to  ultimate," 


CHAPTER  XIV 

JACOB'S  LADDER  IS  THE  ELECTRIC  PATHWAY  BETWEEN 
SUNS  AND  PLANETS 

I  CONTEND  in  my  previous  books  that  electricity 
and  not  gravity  is  the  one  fundamental  form  of 
energy  from  which  all  other  forms,  such  as  light,  heat, 
vital  force,  physical  life  and  so-called  gravitation 
are  derived  by  transformation.  That  electric  en- 
ergy is  the  one  evolving  creative  force  in  the  physi- 
cal universe,  back  of  which  is  the  directing,  intelli- 
gent, spiritual  power  of  Deity,  who  has  made  all 
visible  things  of  one  matter — the  invisible  atom, 
controlled  by  one  invisible  power,  electricity,  after 
one  unchanging  pattern — the  electro-magnet. 

This  necessarily  teaches  that  the  sun  is  not  hot, 
that  all  heat,  light  and  vital  force  is  produced  by 
the  contact  of  positive  and  negative  electricity  in 
the  dense  atmospheric  cushion  of  suns  and  planets, 
where  alone  it  is  needed  for  vegetable  and  animal 
life.  All  of  which  is  produced  by  the  positive  elec- 
tric currents  of  the  sun  coming  in  contact  with 
the  negative  electricity  of  the  planets,  just  as  two 
wires  oppositely  electrified  and  brought  together 
produce  the  arc  and  incandescent  electric  light. 

I  contend  that  the  suns  are  the  self-luminous,  per- 
fected worlds  of  the  universe;  worlds  like  our  world, 
only  larger  and  more  prolific  in  life  and  power 
than  the  planetary  worlds.  That  they  are  the  head- 


ELECTRIC  PATHWAY  TO  SUNS  231 

quarters  of  Deity,  and  the  future  abode  of  man. 
This  leads  to  the  reasonable  scientific  hypothesis 
that  our  all-life-giving  sun  is  where  Christ  ascended 
to,  when  the  Disciples  saw  "a  cloud  receive  him  out 
of  their  sight;"  where  Elias  was  translated;  where 
Paul  was  "  snatched  up  to  the  seventh  heaven"; 
where  Saint  John  in  the  Apochalyptic  journey  saw 
" the  new  Jerusalem — the  City  of  God."  This  wonder- 
ful city,  from  scientific  facts  and  analogy,  exists  in 
the  sun  and  could  be  no  where  else,  and  seems  to 
be  so  represented  in  Revelations,  and  its  description  is 
grander  than  all  the  romances  of  earth.  This  gives 
the  most  reasonable  scientific  explanation  of  Rev- 
elations and  the  eternal  beatitudes  of  the  Christian's 
life  everlasting,  while  at  the  same  time  it  recog- 
nizes the  law  of  evolution,  and  proclaims  there  is 
nothing  supernatural  in  the  universe. 

I  contend  that  the  sun's  photosphere  is  a  bril- 
liant, globe-encircling  aurora ;  that  the  planets  are 
the  hatcheries  of  human  souls,  and  the  suns  the 
place  of  their  maturity  and  perfection;  that  all 
things  are  composed  of  atoms  and  electricity,  which 
are  as  invisible  as  the  soul.  That  the  soul  is  an 
invisible  atom  of  Deity,  and,  like  invisible  atoms  and 
electricity,  may  pass  to  and  from  the  sun. 

In  showing  the  terraced  mountain  on  which  the 
city  in  Revelations  was  built  accorded  with  the 
proportions  of  the  sun  as  compared  with  the  earth 
and  moon,  a  simpler  illustration  would  be  this : 
The  sun's  diameter  is  110  times  that  of  the  earth, 
and  as  the  earth  has  mountains  six  miles  high,  the 
sun  should  have  them  110  times  higher,  which  would 
be  about  700  miles  in  perpendicular  height,  making 
about  1,200  miles  measuring  the  slope  from  the 


232  THE  UNIVERSE 

base  to  the  apex.  Or,  if  the  mountains  in  the  sun 
are  as  high  in  proportion  to  diameter  as  those  on 
the  moon,  the  mountains  of  the  moon  being  three 
miles  high,  and  the  sun's  diameter  being  400  times 
greater  than  the  moon;  the  mountains  of  the  sun 
should  be  1200  miles  in  perpendicular  height. 

Up  to  the  last  few  centuries  all  standards  of  meas- 
urement were  indefinite.  The  cubit,  fathom,  and 
foot  all  depended  on  the  size  of  the  man.  A  fur- 
long was  originally  a  furrow  in  an  English  field, 
and  might  be  300  or  800  feet  in  length.  All  these 
measures  have  been  made  definite  by  law  or  custom 
since  the  Bible  was  written.  But  the  word  trans- 
lated furlong  was  the  Greek  word  stadium, 
which  was  the  length  of  a  Greek  foot  race  which 
was  520  feet  (except  in  two  instances) ;  while  a 
present  furlong,  the  eighth  of  a  mile,  is  660  feet, 
making  in  12,000  furlongs  a  difference  of  about 
320  miles,  making  John's  wonderful  city  1,180  miles 
square.  The  ancient  furlong  was  about  what  I 
put  it — the  tenth  of  a  mile.  Critics  should  inform 
themselves  before  displaying  their  colossal  lack  of 
information. 

I  contend  that  over  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  uni- 
verse is  invisible  matter.  This  invisible  matter 
floats  in  all  space  and  permeates  all  visible  matter 
as  water  permeates  a  sponge. 

All  matter  in  its  primary  and  elementary  form  is 
invisible,  and,  being  invisible,  it  partakes  of  the 
characteristics  in  this  respect  of  invisible  force  and 
invisible  spirit.  These  three  invisible  entities  con- 
stitute the  universe,  its  center  and  circumference, 
its  invisible  realities,  its  eternal  foundation  and 
limitless  boundaries.  Only  one  of  these — matter — 


ELECTRIC  PATHWAY  TO  SUNS  233 

by  a  vast  aggregation  of  atoms,  is  converted 
from  the  invisible  to  the  visible.  This  universe 
was  made  from  nothing — nothing  visible,  nothing 
tangible,  nothing  the  human  eye  could  see  or  the 
human  finger  could  touch.  There  was  a  time  when 
the  stars  and  planets,  suns  and  worlds  were  trans- 
parent ether,  as  impalpable  as  the  viewless  air, 
and  scattered  as  star  dust  in  the  measureless  void  of 
space  along  the  forgotten  highways  of  the  past  eter- 
nities. Silence  reigned  profound  in  the  pulseless 
regions  of  the  air,  where,  motionless  and  dumb, 
the  atoms  hung  in  dark  and  lifeless  space.  There 
was  nothing  in  all  this  universe — nothing  but  cold, 
darkness  and  silence.  But  these  are  the  home  of 
atoms,  the  star-dust  which  Deity  had  scattered  by 
the  breath  of  his  power  through  the  highways  of 
space  in  the  beginning  of  primeval  creation.  While 
these  were  nothing  to  man,  they  were  the  founda- 
tion stones  of  all  created  things.  This  nothingness 
of  space  was  the  fallow  ground  of  the  universe  and 
the  formless  shadow  of  suns  and  worlds.  It  was  a 
universe  in  solution  as  viewless  as  ether,  and  as 
intangible  as  mind.  The  electric  energy  of  space 
was  yet  unstirred  by  the  divine  fiat  or  shook  into 
vibrating  force  by  the  word  of  Creative  Power. 
Other  suns  and  worlds  and  a  universe  of  universes 
shone  forth  in  the  realms  of  space  when  the  Crea- 
tive Word  was  spoken  that  lit  this  newer  universe 
into  being. 

"Let  there  be  light,"  and  from  His  lips  that  spoke 
no  word  but  love  and  truth  and  power,  the  light- 
ning of  electric  life  and  glory  thrilled  every  atom 
with  vibrating  cosmic  energy,  and  life-evolving 
force.  Then  the  electric  clothing  of  light  and  life 


234  THE  UNIVERSE 

leaped  into  power  and  enwrapt  as  in  swaddling  clothes 
a  new  born  universe.  And  wherever  the  breath  of 
Deity  was  blown  there  was  the  glowing  nucleus  of 
a  sun,  or  the  revolving  center  of  a  world.  Then 
atoms  and  electricity  met  in  fond  and  unending 
embrace,  substance  and  energy  clasped  hands,  and 
matter  and  persistent  force  were  woven  into  each 
other's  arms  and  saturated  with  electric,  life-giving 
energy. 

The  first  starting  point  of  the  universe  was  the 
intellectual  volition  of  Deity.  The  second  was  the 
law  of  nature  impressed  upon  matter  by  electricity, 
the  right  hand  of  Deity  and  the  tongue  and  word 
of  His  power.  Spirit  cannot  act  directly  upon  mat- 
ter; it  must  have  a  medium  controlled  by  spirit 
at  one  end  and  working  on  matter  at  the  other.  This 
medium  is  electricity.  Matter  is  held  together  by 
the  electric  attraction  of  the  molecules  of  which 
it  is  composed. 

The  molecules  are  composed  of  invisible  magnets 
called  atoms.  This  electric  attraction  acts  con- 
tinuously. Were  it  to  stop  its  action  for  a  second, 
solid  bodies  would  instantly  crumble  to  invisible 
atoms,  our  material  forms  would  vanish  into  thin 
air,  and  the  universe  disappear  in  viewless  ether. 

The  electro-magnetic  force  holds  firmly  the  mole- 
cules of  solid  bodies  and  gives  them  their  strength 
and  solidity.  It  is  more  feeble  in  its  cohesive  grasp 
on  liquid  bodies  and  is  very  feeble  in  gaseous  bodies. 
Molecules  are  in  a  ceaseless  state  of  activity  and 
motion,  forever  vibrating  to  the  touch  of  electric 
energy. 

The  ever-restless  and  varying  motions  of  the  in- 
visible molecules  constituting  all  matter  is  like  a 


ELECTRIC  PATHWAY  TO  SUNS  235 

cluster  of  bees  at  their  hive,  or  of  ants  at  their 
nests,  hurrying  and  scrambling  over  and  around 
each  other  in  constant  and  curious  motions.  And 
if  our  eyes  were  powerful  enough  to  see  the  mole- 
cules of  which  a  block  of  wood  or  a  human  body  is 
composed,  they  would  witness  such  a  scene  of  activ- 
ity as  the  crowded  bees  and  ants  exhibit,  only  still 
more  curious  and  constant.  When  water  is  changed 
into  steam  it  goes  into  the  air  as  widely  separated  and 
invisible  particles  which  disappear  entirely,  but  every 
particle  is  still  in  existence  and  may  be  converted 
again  into  water.  When  wood  is  burned,  it  changes 
into  ashes,  smoke  and  vapor.  Not  a  single  particle 
is  ever  destroyed.  It  is  so  with  our  bodies,  they 
dissolve  into  their  natural  elements,  which  pass  into 
tree  and  shrub  and  air  and  water  and  other  bodies ; 
they  never  return  to  their  organic  form.  There  is 
no  resurrection  of  the  physical  body.  What  goes 
down  into  the  grave  never  comes  forth  again.  The 
spirit-body  never  enters  the  grave,  but  soars  to  the 
celestial  cities  of  the  sun  in  a  new  and  endless  life. 
Nature  and  Deity  would  not  do  so  nugatory  a  thing 
as  to  resurrect  three  or  four  bucketsful  of  water 
and  a  handful  of  bonedust.  Fresher  and  better 
material  is  at  hand  in  abundance  all  the  time. 

There  are  bodies  all  around  us  so  small  that  we 
cannot  see  them.  They  are  in  the  air  we  breathe 
and  in  the  water  we  drink.  Some  of  them  are  alive 
and  some  are  not.  Many  of  them  are  so  small  we 
need  the  most  powerful  microscope  to  detect  their 
presence.  Yet  every  one  is  made  up  of  parts  much 
smaller  than  itself.  The  fine  dust  which  clings  to 
our  fingers  when  we  hold  a  butterfly  or  a  moth, 
scarce  visible  to  the  naked  eye,  is  found  under  the 


236  THE  UNIVERSE 

microscope  to  be  made  up  of  a  thousand  or  more 
still  smaller  particles. 

There  are  living  creatures  so  small  it  would  take 
a  million  of  them  to  equal  the  size  of  a  mustard 
seed.  Millions  of  them  float  unseen  in  the  air  around 
us,  and  swim  in  the  drops  of  water  we  drink.  Mil- 
lions more  float  through  the  blood  in  our  veins, 
which  to  them  are  vast,  surging  seas  of  life.  They 
are  so  very  small,  a  thousand  of  them  might  fly 
side  by  side  through  the  eye  of  a  needle.  Yet  each 
little  creature  must  be  made  of  still  smaller  parts, 
else  they  could  not  move  or  devour  their  food ;  they 
are  too  infinitesimal  for  the  grasp  of  our  imagina- 
tion. 

If  we  keep  on  dividing  a  body  into  smaller  and 
smaller  pieces,  we  at  last  get  a  piece  so  very  small 
it  cannot  be  divided  again  without  changing  into 
some  other  kind  of  matter.  These  smaller  pieces  are 
called  molecules,  which  are  particles  of  matter  which 
cannot  be  divided  without  changing  their  nature.  All 
bodies  are  porous  and  have  spaces  between  their 
molecules.  This  was  proven  of  gold  a  long  time  ago 
at  Florence,  where  a  hollow  globe  of  gold  was  filled 
with  water  and  shut  up  tight,  then  put  under  im- 
mense pressure.  The  water  was  forced  by  the  pressure 
through  the  pores  of  the  gold  as  a  fine  dewy  mois- 
ture or  perspiration.  The  same  result  would  have 
occurred  had  it  been  iron,  copper  or  any  other 
metal,  as  there  is  a  space  between  all  molecules  in 
all  bodies. 

All  molecules  in  all  bodies  revolve  around  each 
other  without  touching.  You  can  stand  a  man  be- 
fore the  Crookes  tube  or  Roentgen  rays  and  look 
through  him  and  take  pictures  of  his  bones,  and 


ELECTRIC  PATHWAY  TO  SUNS  237 

look  through  his  bones  and  take  pictures  of  ob- 
jects on  the  other  side  of  them,  and  also  look 
through  four-foot  walls.  And  photographs  are 
now  taken  through  six-inch  brick  walls. 

All  spaces  between  the  molecules  of  all  visible 
substances,  all  pores  and  cavities  in  all  organic 
bodies  and  inorganic  matter,  including  the  earth, 
and  all  animal  and  vegetable  life  is,  I  contend, 
permeated  and  occupied  by  invisible  electro-mag- 
netic ether.  This  ether  is  the  life-giving  and  life- 
preservative  force  and  essence  of  the  universe  and 
that  from  which  all  things  have  been  evolved.  All 
suns  and  worlds  and  all  their  complex  creations 
and  everything  that  exists  floats  in  this  boundless, 
vibrating  sea  of  magnetic  ether.  And  there  are 
vast  and  mighty  currents  of  electric  force  and  power 
reaching  from  every  sun  and  planet  to  every  other 
sun  and  planet  in  the  universe.  These  are  enduring 
bands  of  strength,  invisible  ligaments  of  magnetic 
power  that  bind  the  universe  together  as  one  com- 
plete, harmonious  electric  organism.  They  consti- 
tute the  unity  and  strength  of  all  creation  and 
promulgate  and  enforce  the  laws  of  nature. 

They  are  vast  highways  of  space,  the  boulevards 
of  the  universe.  We  cannot  see  them,  neither  can 
we  see  elemental  matter,  or  electricity,  or  life,  but 
we  know  they  exist,  and  are  the  foundations  of  the 
universe. 

Human  spirits,  at  death,  when  they  drop  their 
visible  vesture  of  atoms,  can  step  onto  this  electric 
tide,  this  current  of  swift-speeding  light  and  power, 
and  in  eight  minutes  or  less  time  enter  the  heaven 
of  their  dreams  in  the  celestial  cities  of  the  sun. 

They  have  but  to  step  on  this  flowing  tide  of  elec- 


238  THE  UNIVERSE 

trie  power,  as  they  step  on  a  moving  stairway  or 
platform  in  our  cities  here  on  earth,  to  be  borne 
with  scarcely  a  sense  of  motion  to  their  bright  and 
heavenly  abode.  It  is  a  swift  and  continuous  band, 
an  endless  chain,  a  mighty  ligament  of  light  and 
life  and  power  constantly  passing  between  heaven 
and  earth,  and  earth  and  heaven,  between  sun  and 
planet  and  planet  and  sun.  These  are  the  count- 
less pathways  between  suns  and  stars,  the  mighty 
and  everlasting  highways  of  eternity  which  God  hath 
built  to  span  the  silent  ether  of  space  between  suns 
and  worlds,  and  bind  the  universe  in  one  harmoni- 
ous whole. 

On  these  mighty  currents,  as  on  a  moving  bridge 
of  golden  light,  angels  and  men  and  ministering 
spirits  may  pass  and  repass  to  the  gateway  of 
eternal  life. 

Moses  and  Elias,  Christ  and  John,  and  all  the 
departed  saints  of  earth  have  trod  this  Jacob's 
ladder  on  which  the  angels  ascend  and  descend  be- 
tween heaven  and  earth,  and  all  the  departed  deni- 
zens of  earth  have  trod  its  golden  stairs  to  their 
celestial,  sun-bright  home. 

Dr.  Minot  J.  Savage,  the  eminent  New  York  divine, 
says  he  objects  to  my  putting  eight  minutes  of  time 
between  the  earth  and  the  spiritual  world.  He  thinks 
Christ  taught  that  they  were  in  immediate  connec- 
tion with  each  other.  And  so  they  are,  by  the  com- 
ing and  going  tides  of  spirits  between  the  two  worlds. 
But  now  that  the  speed  of  light  seems  to  be  discov- 
ered to  be  instantaneous,  it  may  be  the  communica- 
tion between  them  is  instantaneous. 

When  the  deathless  spirit  has  dropped  its  "mortal 
coil,"  and  visited  with  electric  wing  the  luminous, 


ELECTRIC  PATHWAY  TO  SUNS  239 

life-giving  sun  and  the  mighty  cities  on  its  spacious 
bosom,  and  graduated  in  the  universities  of  heaven, 
it  will  discover  that  eternity  is  scarcely  long 
enough  to  study  and  enjoy  the  marvelous  creations 
of  the  universe.  It  will  find  our  world  is  but  a 
floating  island  in  the  great  solar  sea  of  electro- 
magnetism,  and  the  solar  sea  or  empire  of  our  sun 
is  but  a  small  province  in  the  boundless  ocean  of 
space,  hid  in  the  infinite  abyss  of  starry  depths; 
that  measureless  immensity  and  countless  variety 
reigns  in  the  universe.  Human  souls  will  then  be 
free  as  air  and  untrammeled  as  ether,  and  may  ex- 
plore the  vast  highways  of  eternity  with  wonder- 
seeking  minds,  and  visit  Jupiter  with  his  enormous 
moons,  Saturn  with  his  gigantic  rings,  and  traverse 
the  out-lying  orbs  of  distant  Uranus  and  Neptune. 
They  may  then  pass  to  other  solar  realms,  and 
wander  over  the  varied  bosom  of  Andromeda's  triple 
suns  of  blue  and  green  and  sapphire  tints  that  whirl 
like  globes  of  rainbow  beauty  in  the  azure  sky, 
and  see  the  double  stars  and  multiple  suns,  and 
fiery  comets  with  their  glowing  spooms,  and  blood- 
red  meteors,  all  following  harmonious  orbits  through 
the  pulsing  voids  of  space,  vibrating  to  the  rythmic 
cadence  of  electric  law.  All  moving  with  tranquil 
majesty  in  the  trackless  seas  of  immensity  obedient 
to  the  Omnipotent  Will. 

Here  blooms  infinite,  varied  life  and  ever-changing 
beauty  to  thrill  and  bless  the  wonder-loving  soul 
and  make  melodious  harmony  with  every  pulsing 
vibration  of  their  imperishable  life.  The  universe  of 
myriads  of  suns  is  separated  by  trillions  of  miles 
and  scattered  like  lighthouses  along  the  realms  of 
space,  as  dynamos  of  heat  and  light  and  life,  shoot- 


240  THE  UNIVERSE 

ing  with  measureless  speed  and  bound  together  by 
mutual  ties  as  delicate  and  invisible  as  the  ties  of 
love  that  bind  two  souls  together  at  the  hymeneal 
altar.  Such  is  God's  universe.  She  is  as  a  bride  to 
her  lover  in  every  floating  atom  of  space,  in  every 
circling  world  and  glowing  sphere,  in  every  human 
soul  and  angel  spirit. 

As  light  is  the  great  painter  of  the  skies,  and 
photographs  all  things  that  occur  in  the  atmosphere 
of  suns  and  planets,  the  aspect  of  the  earth  and  the 
sun  and  the  events  that  occurred  on  their  surface 
thousands  of  years  ago  are  now  winging  their  flight 
through  space  millions  of  millions  of  miles  distant. 
To  the  eye  of  Deity  or  an  observer  on  some  distant 
orb  these  events  of  centuries  past  would  seem  to  be 
actually  occurring  or  in  progress.  With  powers  com- 
mensurate with  the  photographic  powers  of  light, 
a  human  soul  could  stand  upon  a  distant  star  and 
follow  this  wonderful  vision  and  gaze  on  a  succession 
of  events  from  the  beginning  of  time  to  the  present 
moment,  and  read  the  history  of  every  sun  and 
planet  in  the  rays  of  light  from  its  own  atmosphere. 
And  with  poised  wing  in  limitless  space  or  on  some 
far-off  sun,  read  the  mighty  events  transpiring  on 
this  little  earth  in  the  distant  rays  of  light  from  its 
own  atmosphere.  And  in  the  cities  of  the  sun,  the 
denizens  of  heaven  may,  by  some  marvelous  ap- 
pliance, so  magnify  the  picture  in  each  ray  of  light 
from  earth  and  sun  and  planet  that  they  may 
view  with  microscopic  eye  and  telescopic  vision  all 
the  historic  scenes  of  every  sphere,  and  learn  the 
life  and  history  of  every  rolling  orb. 

They  need  not  visit  them  to  see  and  know 
the  panoramic  history  of  their  glowing  life.  And 


ELECTRIC  PATHWAY  TO  SUNS  241 

thus  they  may  view  the  varied  scenes  of  earth. 
Could  we  transport  ourselves  to  Alpha  Lyra,  Sirius 
or  some  more  distant  sun  and  could  see,  like  them, 
the  photographic  pictures  in  the  rays  of  light  from 
earth  we  could  view  scenes  that  transpired  on  the 
earth  thousands  of  years  ago.  Thus  human  souls 
may  see  and  thus  Deity  sees  the  end  from  the  be- 
ginning at  all  times  in  all  spheres.  And  a  ray  of 
light,  a  drop  of  dew,  a  grain  of  sand  or  a  blade  of 
grass  conveys  to  him  a  history  of  the  world  of 
which  it  is  a  part. 

Thus  God  preserves  in  every  ray  of  light  a  con- 
stant picture  of  the  changing  panorama  of  the  uni- 
verse; and  in  man's  mind,  through  man's  imperish- 
able memory,  He  keeps  a  perfect  record  of  man's 
thoughts  and  deeds,  which  He  can  unravel  as  a 
written  scroll  at  any  moment. 

The  future  is  ever  present  in  its  germs,  precisely 
as  the  past  is  present  in  its  fruits.  And  God's  knowl- 
edge of  the  past  and  future  is  as  much  the  sub- 
ject of  His  consciousness  as  the  present  action  of  His 
creatures,  or  the  primary  laws  He  has  established. 
He  has  assigned  to  the  universe  certain  material 
and  spiritual  laws,  and  the  whole  scheme  of  the  uni- 
verse is  so  perfect  it  needs  no  direct  intervention. 
His  perfect  control  of  matter  under  electric  law 
produces  the  evolutions  of  nature  that  accord  with 
His  divine  purpose,  and  His  spiritual  impulse  di- 
rects the  spiritual  development  of  the  human  soul 
to  the  ultimate  goal  of  truth  and  perfection  to  be 
attained  in  His  self-luminous,  perfected  worlds.  Thus 
we  perceive  that  to  the  Omnipotent  Ruler  of  the  uni- 
verse the  infinite  past  and  the  infinite  future  would 
at  all  times  be  present,  that  each  atom  and  event 
16 


242  THE  UNIVERSE 

would  exhibit  to  Him  at  each  instant  the  limitless 
past  and  future,  giving  him  perfect  and  omnipotent 
consciousness  and  control  of  his  spiritual  and  elec- 
tric universe. 

And  even  on  this  earth,  the  time  may  come  when 
we  can  so  magnify  the  picture  in  a  ray  of  light 
that  we  may  see  the  cities  in  the  sun,  and  read  the 
inscriptions  on  their  walls  and  temples,  and  view 
the  gates  of  pearl  and  the  sapphire  dome  and  dia- 
mond coronet  above  the  Acropolis  of  the  terraced 
city  of  the  sun  described  in  Revelations. 

The  soul  is  an  invisible  atom  of  Deity  and,  like 
invisible  atoms  and  electricity,  may  pass  to  and  from 
the  sun  in  eight  minutes  and  perhaps  only  a  few 
seconds. 

I  reason  scientifically  that  if  invisible  matter  and 
electricity  go  everywhere  and  pass  to  and  from  the 
sun  continually  and  exert  their  power  and  do  not 
lose  their  natural  properties  or  identity,  it  is  clear 
and  overwhelming  proof  that  man's  soul,  when  it 
steps  out  of  the  body,  maintains  its  power  and 
identity,  and  can  fly  with  the  speed  of  light  to  the 
throne  of  light  and  life  in  the  luminous  bosom  of 
the  all-life-giving  sun. 

Is  it  not  right,  by  the  eternal  law  of  cause  and 
sequence  and  unanswerable  logic,  that  life  should 
return  to  the  fountain  of  life?  That  life,  soul  life 
and  material  life,  which  the  sun  nurtures,  builds  and 
vitalizes  here,  when  its  usefulness  here  is  ended  that 
it  should  return  to  the  luminous  bosom  of  its  great 
mother — the  source  of  all  life,  light  and  power;  and 
that  there  it  should  find  the  great  Spiritual  Father, 
who  planned  and  constructed  this  mighty  machinery 
of  worlds,  or  his  immaculate  Son  and  representative. 


ELECTRIC  PATHWAY  TO  SUNS  243 

Then,  by  all  the  laws  of  reason,  intelligence,  and 
"the  eternal  fitness  of  things,"  God,  the  eternal, 
creative  Spirit,  should  have  his  abode  and  center 
of  life  and  light  and  power  at  the  central  abode 
of  all  life  and  light  and  power  in  the  physical 
universe, — the  all-sustaining,  creative  sun.  Such  ac- 
cords with  the  eternal  laws  of  nature  and  the  one 
unchanging  mode  and  pattern  of  the  universe.  For 
by  the  universal  law  of  all  created  things,  the  center 
of  physical  and  electric  power  and  life  is  also  the 
center  of  spiritual  and  intellectual  power,  and  there 
should  be  the  home  of  Deity  and  the  promised 
heaven  of  the  human  soul. 

The  question  may  often  arise,  Does  God  perfect 
humanity  and  then  destroy  it?  Does  He  make  men 
of  us  with  all  the  trouble  and  care  that  comes  inside 
of  seventy  years,  and  then  throw  us  away?  I  do  not 
believe  he  does  anything  so  wasteful  and  unjust. 
He  has  prepared  a  pathway  to  the  skies  and  takes 
us  to  Himself.  This  is  more  rational. 

Jacob  saw  the  heavenly  ladder  and  angels  ascend- 
ing and  descending  between  heaven  and  earth,  and 
Stephen  saw  the  heavens  open  and  Christ  sitting  on 
the  right  hand  of  God.  These  were  not  miracles  in 
the  supernatural  sense;  they  were  simply  a  larger 
vision,  an  expansion  of  electric  and  spiritual  power 
under  the  rapid  evolution  of  natural  law.  All  great 
seers  and  prophets  have  had  the  same  clairvoyant 
power. 

At  the  birth  of  our  planet,  the  stars  sang  together 
and  all  the  Sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy.  At  the 
birth  of  Christ  the  angels  sang  for  the  shepherds  on 
the  plains  of  Bethlehem,  and  they  visited  Abraham 
and  Lot,  and  Joseph  and  Mary,  and  ministered  to 


244  THE  UNIVERSE 

Christ  when  he  was  weary  and  famished  in  the 
wilderness.  They  carried  John  in  the  spirit  to  the 
great  and  high  mountain  in  the  sun  which  was  to 
him  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth  and  showed  him 
the  great  city  of  God,  and  they  have  borne  mil- 
lions of  bright  human  spirits  along  the  electric 
highways  of  the  skies  to  the  celestial  mansions  of 
the  blest.  So  will  they  wait  and  guide  us  through 
the  dusky  borders  of  mortality,  along  the  shining 
pathway  to  the  sun,  and  welcome  us  to  the  delights 
of  its  celestial  cities.  And  we  shall  see  in  the  hour 
of  dissolution  the  ladder  Jacob  saw  reaching  from 
earth  to  heaven  on  which  the  angels  ascend  and 
descend,  and  we  shall  see  the  vision  martyred  Stephen 
saw  when  the  heavens  opened,  and  the  vision  St. 
John  saw  when  he  gazed  on  the  New  Jerusaleum. 

And  this  electric  stairway  between  heaven  and 
earth  is  so  real,  sure  and  strong,  that  the  weakest 
spirit  cannot  lose  its  way  or  stumble  or  fall.  It 
has  the  lightness  of  air  and  the  strength  of  adamant 
and  is  as  eternal  as  the  stars.  Millions  of  millions 
have  trod  its  pathway  of  viewless  power  that  no 
steel  or  adamant  could  brake,  and  none  have  failed 
to  reach  the  heaven  that  it  links  to  earth. 

The  creature  whose  intelligence  measures  the  pul- 
sations of  molecules  and  unravels  the  secret  of  the 
whirling  nebuke  is  no  creature  of  a  day,  but  the  child 
of  the  universe,  the  heir  of  all  the  ages,  in  whose 
making  and  perfection  is  found  the  consummation  of 
God's  creative  work. 

God  is  a  spirit  and  man  is  a  spirit,  and  spirit 
power  is  the  supreme  sovereignty  of  the  universe. 
And  the  soul  of  man  can  command  electric  energy 
to  bear  it  with  swift  wings  and  tireless  feet  along 


ELECTRIC  PATHWAY  TO  SUNS  245 

the  electric  pathway  to  the  luminous  bosom  of  the 
sun,  to  the  celestial  cities  of  his  future  heaven. 

And  the  angels  will  be  our  guides  and  direct  our 
faltering  spirits  along  the  electric  pathways  to  the 
stars,  and  light  the  shining  boulevards  of  eternity, 
and  lead  us  to  the  golden  streets  and  crystal  pal- 
aces of  heaven.  And  they  will  escort  us  into  the 
diamond  banqueting  hall  of  the  King  of  Kings, 
and  we  shall  feast  on  angels'  food,  and  sip  nectar 
and  ambrosia  from  the  table  of  the  God  of  Gods. 

And  the  angel  choir  shall  take  down  their  celestial 
harps  from  their  panels  of  amethyst,  and  with  deft 
fingers  and  entrancing  voices  sing  us  the  old,  loved 
melodies  of  heaven,  and  put  a  new  song  in  our 
mouths,  and  we  shall  join  the  heavenly  jubilee  of 
eternal  life  and  glory. 

"When  the  daylight  trembles  into  shade, 
When  falls  the  silence  of  mortality, 
And  all  is  done,  we  shall  not  be  afraid 
But  pass  from  light  to  light;  from  what  doth  seem 
Into  the  heart  and  heaven  of  our  dream." 


CHAPTER  XV 

THIS    ELECTRIC    UNIVERSE    IS    SELF-SUSTAINING    AND 
ETERNAL 

THE  natural  beauty  and  utility  of  the  world  is 
vast  and  varied.  The  grandeur  and  strength  of  the 
universe  is  boundless  and  enduring.  Nature  is  Deity, 
thinking  in  visible  thoughts  of  beauty  and  power, 
and  speaking  in  visible  tones  of  life,  motion  and 
harmony. 

All  things  in  nature  combine  beauty  with  utility 
and  while  full  of  change  are  constant  and  enduring. 
The  same  electric  laws,  force  and  substance  which 
gives  luminous  brilliancy  to  countless  suns,  and 
paints  the  aurora  and  the  rainbow  the  rosy  hues 
of  dawn  and  the  crimson  glories  of  sunset,  give 
color  to  the  ruddy  cheeks  of  youth,  and  red  cor- 
puscle to  the  arterial  blood  that  brings  health  and 
strength  to  human  forms. 

These  same  electric  laws,  force  and  substance  hold 
their  sceptre  of  power  through  all  the  universe. 
Under  electric  law  atoms  and  molecules  embrace 
each  other  and  evolve  visible  forms  of  life;  and 
suns  glow  with  warmth  and  light,  and  keep  their  ap- 
pointed distances  in  the  circling  mazes  of  the  sky. 
And  by  the  grasp  of  electric  energy  these  life-giving 
suns  carry  their  family  of  life-bearing  worlds  upon 
their  mysterious  voyage  through  the  realms  of 
measureless  space. 

AH  nature  is  a  visible  expression  of  Omnipotent 


ELECTRIC  UNIVERSE  ETERNAL  247 

Deity,  all  the  universe  is  a  symbol  of  creative  power 
and  wisdom  which  is  boundless  and  enduring,  and 
proclaims  that  our  world,  the  sun  and  the  universe 
are  eternal  and  enduring. 

The  question  of  the  continued  existence  of  our 
solar  system  is  a  fascinating  subject  to  most  of 
our  astronomers;  they  seem  never  to  be  weary  of 
looking  forward  to  a  time  when  the  light  of  the  sun 
will  expire  with  age,  or  it  will  be  destroyed  by 
some  great  catastrophe.  I  have  no  such  appre- 
hensions. First,  because  in  the  six  or  eight  thou- 
sand years  of  human  history  on  this  planet  there  is 
no  record  of  any  sun  or  star  being  blotted  out, 
or  any  planet  being  destroyed.  The  sun,  stars  and 
planets  are  substantially  the  same  as  they  were 
when  Babylon  flourished,  when  Abraham  was  a 
sun  worshiper,  and  when  the  angels  sang  on  the 
plains  of  Bethlehem.  As  far  as  human  knowledge 
and  science  goes,  not  a  single  star  has  faded  from 
the  glittering  hosts  of  night's  jewelled  crown. 

Second,  because  the  same  electric  force  that  started 
suns  and  planets  on  their  grand  velocities  and  fixed 
their  orbits  is  not  only  an  attracting  force,  but  also 
a  repelling  force  of  marvelous  power.  And  while 
suns  and  planets  attract  each  other  they  also  re- 
pel each  other,  and  make  each  keep  their  respective 
distance  under  the  law  of  electro-magnetism  by 
which  opposite  poles  attract  and  like  poles  repel  each 
other.  If  you  place  the  opposite  poles  of  a  horse- 
shoe magnet  together  they  will  attract  each  other 
and  cling  together  until  a  superior  force  overcomes 
their  mutual  attraction;  but  if  you  reverse  them 
and  put  their  like  poles  together,  they  will  not  cling 
together,  but  will  repulse  each  other. 


248  THE  UNIVERSE 

In  chemistry  molecules  of  opposite  polarity  unite^ 
and  this  is  called  chemical  affinity ;  molecules  of  like 
polarity  will  not  unite,  and  this  is  called  chemical 
repulsion.  Magnets  attract  only  when  their  poles 
are  reversed,  or  when  they  are  oppositely  electrified^ 
and  suns  and  planets  do  the  same.  The  sun  as  the 
great  central  magnet,  or  electric  generator,  has  the 
power  both  to  attract  and  to  repel.  The  planets 
are  kept  in  their  orbits  by  both  the  sun's  attrac- 
tion and  its  repulsion.  In  the  summer,  when  the 
earth  gets  four  millions  of  miles  nearer  the  sun, 
there  is  a  repelling  force  from  the  sun  that  sends 
it  off  again,  or  it  would  continue  to  approach  the 
sun  until  it  would  fall  into  his  spacious  bosom. 
No  law  of  gravitation  or  balancing  force  of  planets 
could  do  this.  The  centrifugal  force  of  electric  re- 
pulsion in  the  sun  does  for  the  earth  what  all  the 
balancing  force  of  the  planets  could  not  do  if  they 
were  all  swung  in  the  circling  orbit  of  Mars. 

The  sun,  by  this  electric  propelling  force,  throws  oif 
the  comets  which  approach  it.  This  is  proven  by 
scientific  records  in  many  instances  for  centuries. 
By  this  same  propelling  force  the  sun  holds  off  the 
swift  leaden  planet  Mercury.  By  this  same  electric 
repulsion  the  planets  prevent  their  moons  from  fall- 
ing back  onto  their  surfaces. 

These  moons  are  the  same  material  and  electric 
composition  as  the  worlds  from  which  they  come, 
and,  as  like  polarity  repels,  they  are  thus  kept  in 
their  orbits.  There  are  estimated  to  be  eighteen 
to  one  hundred  millions  of  suns  in  this  universe. 
Can  any  one  believe  they  are  kept  in  their  places 
by  a  mere  balancing  force? 

They  are  held  by  electrical  repulsion  as  well  as  by 


ELECTRIC  UNIVERSE  ETERNAL  249 

electrical  attraction.  There  may  also  be  belts  or 
zones  of  ether  with  the  proper  electrical  vibration 
or  condition  in  the  orbit  of  each  planet  and  satel- 
lite which  hold  them  with  giant  grasp  in  their  al- 
lotted places. 

And  every  sun  system  may  have  its  own  peculiar 
electricity,  which  has  a  repulsion  for  all  other  sys- 
tems and  holds  each  in  its  proper  place.  All  these 
things  are  possible  and  probable  under  the  theory 
of  electrical  creation.  As  twenty-eight  currents  of 
electricity  can  pass  over  the  same  wire  at  the  same 
time,  fourteen  each  way,  how  many  kinds  of  elec- 
tric currents  may  the  universe  possess?  May  not 
each  planet  have  its  own  peculiar  current,  and  its 
own  peculiar  attracting  power,  and  the  sun  give 
each  a  different  electricity? 

While  each  sun  system,  with  its  revolving  planets, 
is  held  together  by  mutual  electric  attraction,  the 
eighteen  millions  of  sun  systems  are  prevented  from 
coming  in  collision  with  each  other  by  the  law  of 
electric  repulsion.  This  would  prevent  any  one  sys- 
tem from  trespassing  upon  the  domain  or  territory 
of  another,  and  permit  each  and  all  to  move  freely 
among  themselves  and  change  places  without  danger 
of  trespass  or  collision. 

In  case  of  too  near  an  approach  to  each  other 
the  law  of  repulsion  would  drive  them  off.  This 
would  avoid  the  necessity  of  a  central  sun,  which 
probably  does  not  exist  or  it  would  be  visible. 
If  all  these  systems  were  positively  magnetized  or 
all  negatively  magnetized  they  would  repel  each 
other.  This  law  of  electrical  repulsion  would  in- 
crease the  nearer  these  systems  approached  each 
other,  and  this  increasing  power  would  send  them 


250  THE  UNIVERSE 

further  away,  and  forever  prevent  discord  and  col- 
lision. This  is  why  there  is  no  discord  in  the  fields 
of  heaven  and  harmony  reigns  triumphant. 

Electric  repulsion  is  all  that  prevents  these  al- 
most infinite  sun  systems  from  coming  into  con- 
flict with  one  another,  and  ending  in  aggregate  and 
ruinous  collision,  and  reducing  the  universe  to  a 
heterogeneous  mass  of  discordant  spheres.  No  law  of 
gravitation  could  prevent  such  a  wreck  and  ruin  of 
the  universe.  On  the  contrary,  the  size  and  weight 
of  every  sun  and  star  that  floats  in  the  broad  ex- 
panse of  ether  would  under  the  law  of  gravity  tend 
to  bring  about  just  such  a  universal  catastrophe. 

If  the  boasted  law  of  gravitation  prevailed  to-da}r, 
or  ever  did  prevail,  such  would  be  the  disastrous 
results.  The  law  of  gravitation  tends  to  aggregate 
all  bodies  into  one.  If  the  universe  was  under  the 
dominion  of  gravity  there  would  be  but  one  vast 
globe  in  all  the  universe,  and  if  there  was  a  man 
on  it  there  would  be  but  one  enormous  giant.  New- 
ton's law  of  gravitation  is  "large  bodies  attract 
small  ones."  If  that  is  true,  then  all  small  bodies 
would  fly  into  the  arms  of  the  larger  ones,  and 
the  process  would  continue  until  the  largest  body 
had  them  all,  and  there  would  be  no  smaller  ones 
to  attract.  This  is  a  fair  analysis  of  the  law  of 
gravitation. 

As  to  the  rule  that  matter  and  worlds  "attract 
each  other  inversly  to  the  square  of  the  distance," 
that  rule  could  not  exist  but  for  the  law  of  electric 
repulsion.  That  rule  is  very  near  the  law  by  which 
matter  falls  towards  the  sun  by  electric  attraction. 
But  it  is  not  the  law  of  orbital  energy  by  which 
planets  are  kept  out  of  the  sun.  Neither  is  it  the 


ELECTRIC  UNIVERSE  ETERNAL.  251 

law  by  which  satellites  are  kept  from  falling  into 
the  planets  around  which  they  revolve. 

The  weight  that  falls  to  the  earth  by  attraction 
may  be  lifted  by  dynamic  repulsion.  Therefore  the 
law  of  repulsion  is  as  necessary  as  the  law  of  at- 
traction. Gravitation  ignores  the  laws  of  repulsion. 
With  gravity  only  all  spheres  would  fall  together 
in  a  common  ruin;  with  repulsion  only  they  would 
dissolve  into  ether;  and  both  of  these  forces,  nor- 
mally active  and  balanced,  are  necessary  to  pre- 
serve the  universe. 

Therefore,  I  contend  that  our  earth,  the  solar  sys- 
tem and  the  universe  is  self-sustaining  and  eternal 
in  duration,  because  of  the  ever-active  omnipotent 
v  force  of  electrical  repulsion  in  sun  systems,  in  suns 
and  planets  and  their  satellites. 

Our  wise  astronomers  for  two  centuries  have  be- 
stowed upon  so-called  gravitation  all  the  divine  at- 
tributes, and  thrown  around  it  the  halo  of  a  wor- 
shiped divinity;  and  ignored  its  twin  brother  and 
dual  force,  repulsion.  This  was  excusable  before  the 
discovery  of  electricity  and  its  marvelous  forces  as 
a  new  causation.  But  since  then  it  seems  the  blind 
folly  of  stupid  conservativism  that  would  cling  to 
old  traditions  and  antiquated  authority.  They 
recognized  the  law  of  repulsion  in  matter,  in  gases, 
in  gunpowder,  in  volcanoes,  in  steam,  in  dynamite, 
in  perfumery,  in  everything  in  the  earth,  but  denied 
its  operation  in  the  sun  and  planets,  and  sidereal 
space. 

This  ever-active  omnipotent  force  of  electric  re- 
pulsion keeps  all  sun  systems  from  coming  together 
or  trespassing  upon  each  other's  vast  domains. 
There  is  electrical  repulsion  as  a  great  barrier  be- 


252  THE  UNIVERSE 

tween  them  to  hold  them  apart.  Why?  Because 
they  have  like  polarities  or  become  alike  electrified 
as  they  approach  each  other.  This  without  any  other 
reason  is  sufficient  to  forever  prevent  collisions  be- 
tween the  sun  systems  of  the  universe. 

Electrical  repulsion  keeps  our  earth  and  the  planets 
from  falling  into  the  sun.  Why?  Because  our  earth 
and  the  planets,  when  they  approach  within  a  cer- 
tain distance  of  the  sun,  may  become  similarly  elec- 
trified to  the  sun,  and  are  thrown  back  to  their 
proper  and  balanced  orbit.  Electrical  repulsion 
keeps  all  satellites  from  falling  into  their  primary 
planets.  Why?  Because  they  have  like  polarities, 
and  are  positive  or  negative  like  their  primaries, 
and  repulse  each  other.  Thus  each  and  all  the 
suns,  planets  and  satellites  continue  in  their  orbits 
of  balanced  forces,  and  will  always  continue  and  are 
as  eternal  as  the  laws  of  electro-magnetism  that 
created  and  upholds  the  universe. 

The  same  law  applies  to  comets.  Why  does  the 
comet,  when  it  approaches  just  so  near  to  the  sun, 
dart  away  so  quickly?  Because  it  becomes  alike 
electrified  as  the  sun,  and  the  law  of  repulsion  strikes 
it  like  the  blow  of  a  mammoth  triphammer  and 
hurls  it  in  the  opposite  direction.  This  is  one 
reason;  there  may  be  others,  for  the  laws  of  repul- 
sion are  as  many  and  various  as  the  laws  of  attrac- 
tion. 

The  scientists  in  all  ages  have  been  fascinated 
with  fearful,  grim  and  dismal  pictures  of  the  end 
of  the  world.  Like  the  theologians  who  delighted 
to  paint  the  tortures  of  the  fiery  tophet  of  their 
imagination,  the  scientists  have  exhausted  their 
wildest  fancy  in  picturing  the  sun  consumed  with 


ELECTRIC  UNIVERSE  ETERNAL  253 

fire,    the  earth  melting  with  fervent  heat  and  the 
final  " wreck  of  matter  and  the  crush  of  worlds." 

The  latest  display  of  dismal  and  excessive  fancy 
on  this  subject  is  from  the  prolific  pen  of  our  most 
eminent  and  worthy  astronomer,  Prof.  Simon  New- 
comb.  It  is  to  be  found  in  McClure's  Magazine  of 
May,  1903,  which  I  have  just  read,  entitled  "The 
End  of  the  World."  It  is  a  well  written,  imaginative 
story  or  article,  embracing  his  theory  or  hypothesis 
of  the  cause  and  manner  of  the  world's  destruc- 
tion. 

I  admire  his  scholarly  style,  his  great  learning, 
and  splendid  fancy,  and  if  I  believed  in  the  scientific 
theories  and  traditions  which  he  champions  with 
such  an  able  pen,  I  should  say  it  was  a  masterly 
presentation  of  what  would  occur  in  sun  and  earth 
at  some  indefinite  future  time.  But  as  I  have  dis- 
carded the  old  scientific  traditions  I  cannot  accept 
his  theories  or  his  fancy  picture.  It  is  too  dismal 
for  my  optimistic  conception  of  what  has  occurred 
or  what  will  occur  in  this  vast  and  mighty  universe. 

He  is  a  worthy  successor  of  Newton  and  La  Place, 
for  he  has  a  vigorous  imagination,  which  easily 
scans  the  future  and  presents  what  I  deem  antiquated 
theories,  sustained  by  traditional  facts. 

Each  person  lives  »in  a  different  world  and  sees  a 
different  universe,  according  to  his  knowledge  and 
imagination. 

The  universe  Ptolomy  saw  was  different  from  that 
of  Copernicus,  and  Newton's  different  from  both, 
so  my  conception  of  the  universe  is  different  from 
that  of  Prof.  Newcomb's.  Imagination  is  a  creature 
of  education  and  converts  knowledge  into  utility, 
and  reasons  from  the  known  to  the  unknown,  and 


254  THE  UNIVERSE 

is  the  telescope  of  futurity  and  the  microscope  of 
past  centuries. 

I  am  a  great  believer  in  imagination  or  ideality 
as  the  highest  gift  of  Deity,  and  accept  Napoleon's 
statement  that  "imagination  rules  the  world."  I 
believe  no  man  can  be  a  great  astronomer  without 
it,  and  the  tallest  and  broadest  enlightened  imagina- 
tion will  naturally  have  the  best  conception  of  the 
complicated  motion  and  grandeur  of  the  universe. 
Tyndal  in  an  address  at  Liverpool  in  1870,  said, 
"  There  are  tories  even  in  science  who  regard  imagi- 
nation as  a  faculty  to  be  feared  and  avoided  rather 
than  to  be  employed.  In  fact,  without  this  power 
our  knowledge  of  nature  would  be  a  mere  tabula- 
tion of  coexistence  and  sequences ;  the  soul  of  force 
would  be  dislodged  from  our  universe;  casual  re- 
lations would  disappear,  and  with  them  that  science 
which  binds  the  facts  of  nature  to  an  organic 
whole." 

This  is  nobly  and  truly  said,  for  all  progress  is 
heralded  by  theorization ;  which  is  an  intelligible 
explanation  of  things,  and  serves  to  relate  cause  and 
effect.  It  distinguishes  the  human  being  from  the 
animal,  the  civilized  from  the  savage,  the  wise  and 
learned  from  the  ignorant  and  foolish.  Herbert 
Spencer  said,  "In  the  formation  of  a  theory  we  have 
the  highest  condition  of  the  human  mind."  And 
Holder,  in  his  life  of  Darwin,  says,  "Darwin  was 
greater  than  others,  because  he  had  the  genius  of 
scientific  hypothesis."  Therefore  I  am  proud  of  Prof. 
Newcomb's  hypothesis  of  the  cause  and  manner 
of  the  death  of  the  solar  system,  though  I  do  not 
accept  his  theory  or  his  conclusions.  I  am  glad  he 
is  not  one  of  those  scientists,  who  said  in  the  New 


ELECTRIC  UNIVERSE  ETERNAL  255 

York  Journal  not  long  ago,  that  the  only  thing 
of  value  to  science  was  the  tabulation  of  facts.  The 
mere  tabulation  of  facts  would  be  of  as  little  value 
to  the  world  without  causation,  theory  and  hy- 
pothesis, as  the  Egyptian  hieroglyphics  before  the 
discovery  of  the  Rossetta  Stone. 

Let  us  see  what  the  learned  astronomer,  Prof. 
Newcomb,  says.  He  projects  himself  into  the  future 
and  starts  out  by  imagining  that  from  the  central 
observatory  in  the  Himalayas,  "Mars  is  signalling  a 
dark  star."  This,  he  says,  was  after  "the  world  had 
long  been  dull  and  stagnant."  Now,  I  protest  that 
this  world  will  never  become  dull  and  stagnant, 
nor  any  part  of  this  electric  universe,  but  all  will 
go  on  steadily  progressing  to  more  perfect  condi- 
tions. Here  is  where  our  theories  clash  on  the  first 
sentence. 

Then  he  proceeds  to  tell  the  kind  of  dullness  and 
stagnation  that  existed.  He  says  almost  every 
scientific  discovery  had  been  made  thousands  of 
years  before,  and  all  inventions  had  been  perfected, 
and  everything  went  on  as  by  machinery.  The  peace 
of  the  world  was  settled  and  the  time  when  men 
fought  and  killed  each  other  in  war  lay  far  back 
in  the  mists  of  antiquity,  and  the  newspapers  chroni- 
cled little  but  births,  marriages,  deaths  and  the 
weather  reports.  "Only  one  language  was  spoken 
the  world  over,  and  all  gentlemen  dined  in  blue 
coats  with  gilt  buttons  and  wore  white  neckties 
with  red  borders." 

Now  I  cannot  accept  this  as  a  true  picture  of  our 
earth  at  any  time  in  its  future,  or  the  hypothesis 
of  human  stagnation  as  possible  or  probable.  I  do 
not  regard  the  world's  peace,  and  perfected  machin- 


256  THE  UNIVERSE 

ery,  and  "blue  coats  with  gilt  buttons  and  white 
neckties  with  red  borders,"  as  evidence  of  dullness 
and  stagnation.  And  I  cannot  believe  the  news- 
papers, whose  proverbial  energy  is  perennial,  will 
ever  get  to  the  low  ebb  of  stagnation  he  describes. 

But  to  the  more  important  points.  Three  thou- 
sand years  before  this  time  messages  had  been  suc- 
cessfully interchanged  with  the  inhabitants  of  Mars, 
and  now  this  message  of  "a  dark  star"  arrives  from 
Mars,  which  excites  the  astronomers,  and  later  the 
people,  until  the  whole  world  is  in  a  frenzy  of  terror, 
apprehension  and  despair,  watching  this  terrible 
star,  which  continued  to  increase. 

The  people  of  Mars  are  also  "in  a  state  of  ex- 
traordinary excitement,"  and  our  astronomers  are 
much  puzzled  about  the  orbit  of  this  dark  star, 
many  times  the  size  of  our  earth.  Then  the  Hima- 
laya observatory  sends  out  the  startling  announce- 
ment that,  "the  dark  star  has  no  orbit;  but  is 
falling  toward  the  sun  with  great  speed." 

Then  a  professor  in  physics  sees  the  dangerous 
possibility  of  its  collision  with  the  sun,  and  has  an 
immense  vault,  which  had  been  previously  built  for 
scientific  experiments,  a  hundred  feet  under  ground, 
stored  with  provisions,  etc.  In  this  safe  retreat  he 
hides  himself  and  his  assistants  when  the  dark  star 
strikes  the  sun,  and  the  fearful  conflagration  of  the 
sun  and  earth  occurs.  And  when  the  sun  and  earth 
were  burned  up  by  the  collision  of  the  dark  star 
with  the  sun,  they,  like  Noah  and  his  family,  were 
saved  from  the  general  destruction.  The  descrip- 
tion of  the  melting  of  the  houses,  stones  and  all 
combustible  material  on  the  surface  of  the  earth, 
the  anguish  and  despair  of  the  thronging  multi- 


ELECTRIC  UNIVERSE  ETERNAL  257 

tudes,  and  the  destruction  of  the  great  city  of  Hat- 
ten,  built  on  the  ruins  of  the  old  city  of  Neeork, 
would  duplicate  the  horrors  of  Dante' s  * ' Inferno. ' '  The 
illustrations  are  equally  horrible  and  terrific,  and 
both  are  calculated  to  shock  the  mind  of  the  reader 
and  retard  mental  composure  and  aesthetic  culture. 

He  states,  in  the  words  of  the  professor,  his  theory, 
thus  :  "My  theory  is  that  if  one  of  these  dark  ob- 
jects chances  to  strike  a  star  it  bursts  through  its 
outer  envelope  and  sets  free  the  enormous  fires 
pent  up  within."  These  pent-up  fires  within  the 
sun,  he  claims,  are  going  to  blaze  up  more  furious 
and  be  the  cause  of  this  dread  catastrophe  of  ruin 
and  death  to  the  sun  and  planets.  With  all  respect 
to  this  eminent  astronomer,  I  insist,  first,  there  are 
no  pent-up  fires  in  the  sun.  Second,  no  dark  or 
light  star,  planet  or  globe  can  ever  fall  into  the 
sun,  because  the  law  of  electric  repulsion  in  the 
sun  will  send  it  off,  as  it  does  the  comets,  in  an 
opposite  direction;  besides  this  same  law  of  electric 
repulsion  will  forbid  any  such  object  from  coming 
into  the  solar  system. 

He  says  this  dark  star,  many  times  the  size  of 
our  earth,  striking  the  sun,  would  destroy  it  and 
our  earth  and  planetary  system  by  fire.  All  life 
and  combustible  material,  including  stones  and  the 
surface  of  the  sun  and  planets,  he  insists,  would  be 
utterly  consumed  by  the  heat  engendered  by  such  a 
collision.  Now,  I  contend,  in  the  first  place,  that 
such  an  event  is  virtually  impossible ;  and  if  it  were 
possible,  a  star  of  many  times  the  size  of  our  earth, 
coming  in  collision  with  the  sun,  would  make  little 
more  impression  on  it  than  a  dozen  hogsheads  of 
dynamite  thrown  against  the  surface  of  the  moon. 
17 


258  THE  UNIVERSE 

Both  would  do  great  local  damage  to  the  spot  and 
vicinity  where  they  struck,  but  neither  would  pro- 
duce any  great  general  disturbance  and  injury  to 
these  orbs.  Many  times  the  size  of  the  earth  would 
mean  naturally  something  like  a  dozen  times  the 
size  of  the  earth. 

Let  us  estimate  the  general  result  by  comparison. 
The  sun  is  one  million  three  hundred  thousand  times 
larger  than  the  earth.  It  is  so  large  that  if  we 
could  drop  our  earth  into  the  center  of  the  sun, 
our  moon,  which  is  two  hundred  and  forty  thou- 
sand miles  from  us,  would  only  be  about  half  way 
to  the  circumference  or  outer  rim  of  the  sun.  Now, 
a  star  many  times  the  size  of  our  earth,  striking 
the  surface  of  the  sun,  would  create  great  heat  by 
the  compact,  and  great  distruction  in  the  locality 
where  it  struck ;  and  would  likely  imbed  itself  in  the 
sun,  like  large  meteors  do  on  the  earth,  and  become 
a  good  sized  mountain  on  the  sun's  surface.  It 
would  not  increase  the  electric  currents  or  radiation, 
of  the  sun  sufficient  to  melt  the  snow  on  the  moun- 
tains of  the  tropics  or  set  fire  to  a  haystack  on 
the  earth.  Its  effect  on  the  earth  would  not  be  ex- 
cessive in  temperature,  and  would  be  very  tempo- 
rary. For  my  theory  is  that  the  sun  sends  only 
such  currents  of  electricity  to  the  earth  as  the  earth 
draws  and  demands  by  its  opposite  polarity. 

Only  a  great  sun  a  thousand  or  a  million  times 
larger  than  our  earth  would  make  any  great  im- 
pression on  the  sun  in  case  of  a  collision ;  and  then 
it  would  not  result  in  its  destruction,  or  that  of 
the  earth  and  planets.  Its  size  and  power  would 
be  increased,  but  that  would  not  necessarily  in- 
crease the  heat  of  the  planets,  if,  as  I  contend,  the 


ELECTRIC  UNIVERSE  ETERNAL  259 

sun  could  only  send  them  the  electric  currents  the 
planets  draw  by  reason  of  their  opposite  polarity; 
just  as  a  receiving  station  of  wireless  telegraphy 
receives  only  the  electric  currents  intended  for  it 
because  of  the  peculiar  attracting  power  it  possesses. 

I  am  aware  that  the  recent  flaring  out  in  light, 
and  increase  in  size  of  the  star  Nova  Persei  in  the 
constellation  of  Perseus,  has  given  plausibility  to 
the  conjecture  of  some  astronomers  that  it  was 
caused  by  a  collision  between  two  suns.  But  I 
think  the  better  opinion  is  that  this  star  is  a  new 
sun,  partly  nebulous  and  in  its  formative  state; 
and  that  it  was  visited  by  a  great  cloud  or  swarm 
of  meteors,  which  produced  the  great  illumination 
which  flared  out  into  space  for  a  few  days  and  then 
subsided. 

Its  former  small  size,  to  which  it  has  returned, 
and  its  present  nebulous  condition,  or  the  nebulae 
that  surrounds  it,  seems  to  fully  justify  this  con- 
clusion. I  do  not  believe  there  ever  has  been  or 
ever  will  be  a  collision  among  the  suns  or  planets. 
The  wisdom  of  the  Creator,  as  manifested  in  the 
great  universal  laws  of  electro-magnetism,  forbid  it. 
If  such  a  catastrophe  was  likely  ever  to  occur,  it 
would  have  happened  many  times  since  the  history 
of  the  race  began,  and  we  would  have  had  many 
undoubted  demonstrations  of  the  direful  uncertainty 
of  the  life  of  the  suns  and  planets  and  the  vary- 
ing chances  and  unstable  condition  of  the  universe. 

Let  us  hear  the  conclusion  of  Prof.  Newcomb's 
hypothesis  in  the  last  words  of  the  last  man  on  the 
earth,  in  the  person  of  the  professor  of  physics : 
"Such  is  the  course  of  evolution.  The  sun,  which 
for  millions  of  years  gave  light  and  heat  to  our 


260  THE  UNIVERSE 

system  and  supported  life  on  the  earth,  was  about 
to  sink  into  exhaustion  and  become  a  cold  and  inert 
mass.  Its  energy  could  not  be  revived  except  by 
such  a  catastrophe  as  has  occurred.  The  sun  is 
restored  to  what  it  was  before  there  was  any  earth 
on  which  it  could  shed  its  rays,  and  will  in  time  be 
ready  to  run  its  course  anew.  In  order  that  a  race 
may  be  renewed,  it  must  die  like  an  individual. 
Untold  ages  must  once  more  elapse  while  life  is  re- 
appearing on  earth  and  developing  in  higher  forms." 

This  is  the  present  accepted  scientific  theory. 
But  is  it  right?  According  to  my  conception,  it  is 
not.  The  sun  is  not  growing  old,  or  cold,  or  feeble, 
nor  can  it  "sink  into  exhaustion."  Nature,  on  this 
earth,  under  electric  law  and  process,  is  ever  renewing 
herself.  And  it  is  the  same  in  all  suns  and  planets. 
Nature's  curriculum  of  eternal  processes  is  contin- 
uous change  and  evolution.  Her  processes  of  re- 
newal and  purification  are  so  perfect  here  on  earth, 
that  our  most  luscious  fruits  and  vegetables,  and  our 
most  beautiful  and  fragrant  flowers  come  from  the 
rank  manure  of  the  farmer's  stable.  The  fertilizers 
of  our  soil  are  the  decayed  excrement  of  bird  and 
beast  and  the  most  loathsome  decaying  elements; 
yet,  through  nature's  evolving  and  purifying  proc- 
ess they  become  wheat  and  corn,  plant,  vegetable 
and  flower,  and  our  most  wholesome,  acceptable 
and  nutritious  food;  and  if  we  live  many  years  in 
the  same  neighborhood  we  eat  the  same  food  over 
and  over  many  times,  and  the  cattle  and  all  living 
creatures  do  the  same  thing. 

The  atoms  that  compose  our  bodies  have  been 
used  over  and  over  again  many  times.  They  have 
been  in  the  bodies  of  millions  of  men  and  animals, 


ELECTRIC  UNIVERSE  ETERNAL  261 

plants  and  vegetables  before  we  used  them,  and  will 
be  in  millions  of  bodies  yet  uncreated.  They  have 
been  tossed  by  winds,  hurled  and  threshed  about 
by  tornadoes  and  cyclones,  drowned  in  the  sea,  and 
buried  in  the  earth  and  often  digested  by  other 
animals  before  they  came  to  rest  under  balanced 
electric  forces  in  our  bodies. 

Every  atom  in  our  bodies  have  been  to  the  sun 
and  back  billions  of  times  and  will  be  again.  They 
have  been  renewed  by  the  electric  currents  of  the  sun, 
by  the  energy  of  the  soil,  by  the  electro-magnetic 
ether  of  space,  and  are  as  eternal  as  law  and  destiny. 

In  like  manner,  the  elements  of  the  sun  are  con- 
stantly being  renewed  and  invigorated,  and  he  has 
an  area  of  six  billions  of  miles  in  diameter  from 
which  to  draw  virgin  atoms,  and  like  a  great 
sea  of  inexhaustible  force,  it  is  the  fountain  from 
which  he  receives  his  measureless  power  and  in- 
destructible life  and  energy.  For  he  is  the  central 
dynamo  and  electric  heart  of  the  solar  system, 
and  with  his  family  of  planets  is  floating  in  a  bound- 
less sea  of  electro-magnetism  that  has  no  limit  of 
life  and  energy.  The  sun  may  send  a  different  kind  of 
wireless  electricity  to  each  of  the  planets,  and  each 
of  the  planets  may  return  a  different  kind  of  elec- 
tricity to  the  sun.  Thus  these  electric  currents  may 
pass  and  repass  between  sun  and  planets  and  be  re- 
energized and  used  over  and  over  again,  just  as 
the  atoms  of  our  bodies  and  all  earthly  molecules 
are  used  over  and  over  again. 

Thus  the  sun  constantly  renews  and  invigorates 
himself  and  all  the  elements  of  the  solar  system, 
and  can  never  come  into  "a  state  of  exhaustion/' 
as  so  graphically  described. 


262  THE  UNIVERSE 

But  this  vast  electric  universe  is  stable,  enduring, 
self-sustaining  and  eternal;  and  no  law  or  act  of 
conflict  among  its  millions  of  suns  and  planets  has 
ever  been  discovered,  or  is  likely  ever  to  be,  the 
conjectures  and  sophisticated  prognostications  of 
pessimistic  scientists  to  the  contrary  notwithstand- 
ing. Can  any  reasoning,  common  thinker,  aside  from 
the  scientists,  after  viewing  our  moon  swinging 
around  our  earth,  as  it  has  done  for  thousands  of 
years,  only  240,000  miles  from  us,  without  ap- 
proaching a  mile  nearer  the  earth  in  all  that  time, 
believe  there  is  any  danger  of  a  collision  between 
them?  The  law  that  holds  them  apart  thousands 
and  millions  of  years  will  continue  to  do  so;  and 
their  collision  is  virtually  a  matter  of  impossibility 
until  the  electric  laws  of  the  universe  are  abrogated. 
Can  any  one  believe  that  the  little  leaden  planet 
Mercury  that  has  been  swinging  so  close  around 
our  enormous  sun — only  thirty  millions  of  miles 
from  it — for  millions  of  years  could  keep  its  con- 
stant orbit  unless  there  was  an  irresistible  law,  as 
omnipotent  and  changeless  as  Deity,  that  has  and 
will  forever  keep  it  from  falling  into  the  sun. 

Look  at  the  planet  of  Mars  with  two  satellites, 
of  Jupiter  with  six,  and  Saturn  with  eight,  flying 
swiftly  around  their  primaries,  all  only  a  few  thou- 
sand miles  from  their  surface,  and  some  of  them 
going  in  different  directions — could  any  balancing 
force,  any  law  of  gravitation,  keep  them  from  fall- 
ing into  their  primaries?  Every  one  of  them  is  a 
contradiction  of  the  law  of  gravity,  and  puts  the 
stamp  of  falsity  on  all  its  claims. 

But  they  all  show  there  is  a  law  which  defies 
so-called  gravity  and  is  a  correlative  force,  and  that 


ELECTRIC  UNIVERSE  ETERNAL  263 

is  the  law  of  electric  repulsion ;  and  it  is  the  cosmic 
force  which,  with  electric  attraction,  has  built  the 
universe  as  a  vast  electric  machine,  and  they  will 
forever  preserve  its  integrity  and  existence,  and  the 
sun,  earth  and  universe  are  eternal. 

The  world  moves;  knowledge  increases,  and  science 
is  gradually  broadening  her  conception  of  the  har- 
mony and  endurance  of  the  universe.  The  theory 
of  dead  matter  and  blind  force  has  been  relegated 
to  the  obsolete  and  discarded  past,  and  been  re- 
placed by  the  recognition  of  ever-present  life  and 
infinite  grades  of  consciousness. 

The  vast  and  varied  factors  in  nature's  problems 
of  eternal  destiny  point  to  our  sun  and  earth  as 
a  present  existing  and  unending  reality.  Nature 
builds  up,  tears  down,  and  reproduces  her  organic 
forms  on  the  surface  of  planetary  globes,  but  she 
does  not  destroy  her  great  sun  magnets  and  world 
magnets  in  the  same  manner,  as  many  of  our  scien- 
tists think.  There  is  a  great  difference  in  the  powers 
and  functions  of  suns  and  planets  and  the  creeping 
things  on  their  surfaces.  Suns  and  planets,  after  they 
have  attained  their  matured  and  balanced  powers, 
are  immortal,  and  creating,  enduring  and  perfected 
organisms;  and,  like  man  in  his  immortal  spirit, 
they  have  attained  to  eternal  life,  and  neither  death 
nor  ruin  can  ever  come  near  them.  Suns  and  worlds 
in  their  electric  energy  have  the  powers  of  creation, 
and  as  the  creator  is  always  superior  to  the  created, 
they  should  not  be  judged  alike.  Therefore  the 
changing  and  transitory  nature  of  many  things 
on  the  earth's  surface  is  no  proof  that  such  will 
be  the  earth's  destiny.  On  the  contrary,  every  liga- 
ment of  force  and  power  in  this  electric  universe  is 


264  THE  UNIVERSE 

pledged  to  secure  the  continued  and  endless  du- 
ration of  our  sun  and  solar  system,  including  our 
earth.  And  timorous  humanity  should  no  longer 
shrink  in  horror  at  its  prospective  wreck  and  ruin. 
May  the  truth  prevail  and  man's  mind  be  freed 
from  the  horrors,  of  an  anticipated  destruction  of 
the  sun  and  earth,  and  the  optimistic  joy  of  im- 
perishable life  and  love  here,  and  in  the  all-glorious 
sun  hereafter  brighten  the  terrestial  existence  of 
humanity.  All  hail !  thou  life-giving  sun  ! 


Sweep  on  and  ever  while  the  cycles  roll 

Thou  wandering  orb  of  luminious  sod ! 
Thou  blazing  banner  of  the  mighty  God ! 

From  Creation's  center  to  its  farthest  pole, 
Speed  on  and  on  in  thy  unknown  track; 
But  the  hand  that  send  thee  can  draw  thee  back, 
And  teach  thee  the  way  when  thy  footsteps  stray, 
As  He  doth  the  wanderer. 

Like  a  silent  thought  from  Creation  wrought, 
Thou  speakest  a  language  weird  and  strange 
Of  the  breadth  of  space  and  the  speed  of  change, 

And  the  wondrous  dream  that  the  ages  taught; 
That  from  star  to  star, and  from  sun  to  sun 
The  soul  shall  pass  while  the  cycles  run 
Renewed  in  its  youth,  gleaning  wisdom  and  truth, 
God's  wisest  wanderer. 

The  living  shall  die,  and  the  dead  shall  live, 
And  the  mystery  deepens  on  every  hand, 
And  the  worlds  shall  stay,  and  the  soul  shall  stand, 

And  a  lesson  of  truth  shall  all  things  give. 

And  a  mystic  touch  hath  a  world  to  a  world 
And  the  banners  of  God  are  ever  unfurled 
In  creation's  face  teaching  truth  and  grace 
To  the  wanderer. 


CHAPTER    XVI 

ARE  ALL  SUNS  AND  WORLDS  INHABITED? 

ARE  all  suns  and  worlds  inhabited  ?  This  has  been 
a  puzzling  question  to  the  astronomers,  who  have 
had  various  opinions  on  the  subject.  From  the 
laws  of  electric  creation,  as  I  understand  them,  the 
affirmative  answer  seems  reasonable  and  natural. 
But  as  we  cannot  visit  these  suns  and  worlds  in 
the  flesh,  my  answer  must  be  formed  from  the  oper- 
ations of  the  laws  of  electricity  as  applied  to  this 
planet. 

Prof.  Newcomb  says  astronomers  have  no  means 
of  knowing  as  to  the  inhabitability  of  distant  orbs 
any  more  than  other  persons,  and  that  we  can 
only  reason  cosmologically  on  the  subject,  and, 
reasoning  thus,  he  thinks  only  the  earth  and  possi- 
bly Mars  are  inhabitated. 

Prof.  H.  H.  Turner,  professor  of  astronomy  at 
Oxford,  England,  in  the  Fortnightly  Review  of 
April,  1903,  in  combating  Alfred  Russell  Wallace's 
theory  that  our  earth  is  in  the  center  of  the  uni- 
verse, and  the  only  inhabited  world,  says:  "Why 
should  not  any  one  of  the  suns  possess  planets  as 
well  adapted  as  we  are  to  develop  high  forms  of 
organic  life?"  He  seems  to  think  no  valid  reason 
can  be  given  why  there  are  not  many  inhabited 
worlds  as  favorably  situated  as  ours  to  produce 
and  maintain  organic  life.  And  I  fully  agree  with 


266  THE  UNIVERSE 

Mm,  and  go  a  step  further  and  say  there  are  many 
reasons  why  nearly  all  suns  and  worlds  are  in- 
habited. Reasoning  from  electric  law  and  cosmo- 
logical  facts,  our  world,  and  its  laws,  forces  and 
creations,  should  be  a  fair  sample  of  the  laws,  forces, 
and  creations  of  all  worlds  and  planets.  This  is 
in  accord  with  universal  chemistry,  which  teaches 
that  the  same  laws  and  substances  exist  through- 
out all  the  realms  of  space. 

In  reasoning  on  the  formative  period  of  our  world, 
we  found  the  electric  current  to  be  the  first  form 
of  matter  and  force,  or  the  first  form  of  creative 
manifestations  in  space.  These  currents  antedate 
all  suns,  worlds  and  visible  objects.  We  also  found 
that  all  visible  forms  of  matter  were  the  aggregation 
of  billions  of  invisible  atoms,  and  all  visible  matter 
and  forms  were  simply  the  outer  garment  and  scaf- 
folding of  these  invisible  electric  forces;  that  force 
follows  the  law  of  motion,  and  atoms  the  law  of 
form  obedient  to  the  lines  of  motion.  The  second 
step  in  planetary  construction  was  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  atoms  into  crystalline  formation,  due  to 
opposite  currents  of  electrical  motion,  and  to  atomic 
balance.  This  produced  the  rock-ribbed  foundations 
of  the  earth  and  solidified  it  into  a  vast  magnet 
of  marvelous  force  and  power. 

Then  when  the  crystalline  rocks  and  metals  were 
settled  into  a  crystalline  globe  throbbing  with  elec- 
tric power,  vegetation  came  and  the  electric  life-cell 
was  formed  as  the  first  step  towards  organic  life. 
Then  came  the  formation  of  nerve  tissue  as  the 
basis  of  form  structure  and  the  evolution  of  micro- 
scopic life  which  developed  under  electric  energy 
into  all  forms  of  animal  existence  which  now  in- 


ARE  WORLDS  INHABITED  267 

habit  the  earth.  These  were  all  formed  and  per- 
fected through  ages  of  response  to  the  varying 
electric  currents  of  life-giving  power. 

Then  the  animal  form  evolved  a  brain,  and 
acquired  the  sense  of  feeling  and  sight  and  hearing 
by  reason  of  the  electric  currents  that  impinged  on 
the  sensitive  tissues  of  the  brain,  and  animal  in- 
stinct was  slowly  and  gradually  developed  and  the 
animal  organism  raised  to  the  highest  grade  of  the 
perfected  mammal.  All  this  was  done  under  electric 
law  by  magnetic  energy.  Then  the  Creative  Deity 
said,  "  Let  us  make  man."  And  it  is  likely  He  took 
a  perfected  mammal,  enlarged  his  brain-pan,  stood 
him  erect  to  front  the  stars,  and  breathed  into  him 
an  atom  of  his  own  spirit,  "and  man  became  a 
living  soul."  The  psychic  power  of  glowing  thought 
and  reasoning  mind,  inspiring  hope  and  heaven- 
bound  love,  and  truth,  and  language,  music,  poetry, 
and  dreams  of  heaven,  were  implanted  as  a  celestial 
fire  in  his  deathless  spirit.  This  is  man, — the  soul, 
the  spirit,  the  divine,  eternal  spark  of  Deity  him- 
self—not the  body;  that  is  merely  the  overcoat  of 
atoms  for  the  spirit,  the  temple  for  the  soul,  the 
house  in  which  it  dwells. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing  that  electricity 
is  the  creative,  evolving  force  of  the  universe,  the 
word  of  omnipotent  power,  the  creative  machinery 
of  suns  and  worlds.  That  it  creates  suns  and  worlds 
and  all  animal  and  vegetable  organisms,  that  it 
can  evolve  all  forms,  and  give  animal  instinct  as 
the  result  of  balancing  the  experience  of  one  sense 
with  another  through  long  ages  of  experience. 

But  it  cannot  create  mind,  soul  or  the  spirit  of 
Deity.  It  could  not  create  man  as  a  psychic  being. 


268  THE  UNIVERSE 

It  could  organize  his  body,  but  it  could  not  confer 
on  him  a  soul.  Electricity  does  not  rob  God  of 
power;  it  is  his  creative  machinery,  and  the  right 
hand  of  His  power,  and,  guided  by  His  omnipotent 
will  as  the  law  of  nature,  it  can  and  does  evolve 
suns  and  worlds  and  all  organic  life.  But  not  spirit- 
life — not  man. 

Moses  and  the  Bible  were  inspired  or  they  could 
never  have  shown  so  clearly  the  nobler  creation  of 
man,  and  his  inherent  sovereignty  over  the  world, 
and  dominion  over  all  the  animal  creation.  I  like 
that  statement,  "And  God  said  let  us  make  man." 
Electricity  was  the  word  of  His  power,  the  creative 
agent  of  His  will,  which  is  the  law  of  nature.  It 
could  create  a  sun,  a  world,  a  universe;  it  could 
give  sense  and  feeling  to  insensate  dust,  and  evolve 
and  fashion  man's  body  as  a  house  suited  for  his 
earthly  habitation,  but  it  could  not  furnish  a  ten- 
ant or  evolve  a  soul.  The  God-father  and  the  God- 
mother alone  could  do  this,  and  make  man  a  spirit- 
ual and  eternal  being. 

Now,  I  argue  that  if  electricity  created  this  earth 
with  all  its  complex  elements  and  organic  forms, 
it  also  created  all  suns  and  worlds  and  all  the 
machinery  of  the  universe  by  the  same  process,  and 
has  endowed  every  rolling  sphere  in  space  of  suffi- 
cient size  and  power  with  vegetation,  and  all  the 
varied  forms  of  animal  organism.  Is  not  this  a 
rational  conclusion,  since  it  has  been  demonstrated 
by  universal  chemistry  and  spectroscopic  analysis 
that  all  laws,  force  and  substance  are  the  same  in 
all  suns  and  worlds  and  throughout  the  universe? 
Is  it  reasonable  to  believe  that  the  electric  currents 
and  magnetic  energy  of  our  earth  could  evolve 


ARE  WORLDS  INHABITED  269 

billions  of  billions  of  little  living  creatures  which 
float  in  the  air  thicker  than  motes  in  a  sunbeam, 
that  swim  in  the  waters  so  abundant  that  there 
are  millions  in  a  raindrop,  that  penetrate  all  veg- 
etable and  animal  substance  and  organisms,  that 
course  through  the  veins  of  our  bodies  by  the  billion, 
and  eat  our  food  for  us  that  we  may  digest  it 
better ;  yet  in  other  suns  and  worlds  produce  no  such 
results?  I  cannot  think  so. 

The  animalculae  are  so  small  that  Ehrenburg 
estimates  that  five  hundred  million  of  them  exist 
in  one  drop  of  water  one  twelfth  of  an  inch  in  dia- 
meter; that  not  only  the  blood,  but  the  flesh  and 
muscles  are  also  composed  of  infinitesimal  lives,  each 
cell  possessing  a  distinct  life  of  its  own. 

Binet  describes  man  as  a  colony  of  protozans; 
and  according  to  these  two  biologists  he  is  a  walk- 
ing Chinese  Empire,  when  you  consider  the  micro- 
scopic beings  in  his  body.  Besides  our  bodies  and 
those  of  vegetable  and  animal  organism  that  are 
thus  honeycombed  and  flooded  with  animalculine 
life,  there  are  countless  millions  floating  in  the  air, 
swimming  in  the  water,  and  buried  in  the  dust  of 
the  earth. 

So  that  organic  life  is  everywhere  present  on 
the  earth,  in  invisible  or  visible  form.  And  the 
invisible  forms  of  life  of  the  earth  everywhere  sur- 
passes the  visible  forms  millions  of  millions  of  times. 
Just  as  the  invisible  matter  in  the  world  and  the 
universe  surpasses  the  visible  countless  billions  of 
times.  Thus  the  natural,  spontaneous  production 
of  life  and  life  forms  in  myriads  everywhere  on  this 
earth  emphasizes  the  reasonable  hypothesis  that 
they  are  evolved  on  all  suns  and  planets. 


270  THE  UNIVERSE 

This  shows  the  unity  of  matter  and  life.  Where- 
ever  there  is  matter  there  is  electric  energy  and 
life-force,  which  evolves  infinite  grades  of  life-forms. 
Prof.  Buchner  asserts  that  "  spectrum  analysis  has 
brought  about  the  highly  important  conviction 
of  the  unity  of  what  is  to  us  the  visible  universe." 
And  Prof.  Shaler  of  Harvard  declares,  "the  unity 
of  life  is  the  greatest  discovery  of  the  nineteenth 
century."  The  infinite  diversity  in  nature  first 
fixed  the  attention  of  investigators ;  now  its  infinite 
unity  is  the  marvel  which  excites  their  wonder  and 
admiration.  Now  the  unity  of  matter,  force  and 
physical  life  are  accepted  by  the  ablest  thinkers. 

This  all  tends  to  prove  the  inhabitability  of  all 
suns  and  worlds.  Prof.  Huxley  put  himself  on  rec- 
ord as  believing  in  intelligent  organic  life  in  other 
worlds,  in  the  following  vigorous  language  :  "  Look- 
ing at  the  matter  from  the  most  rigidly  scientific 
point  of  view,  the  assumption  that  amid  the  myriads 
of  worlds  scattered  through  endless  space  there 
can  be  no  intelligence  as  much  greater  than  man's 
as  his  is  greater  than  a  black  beetle's,  is  not  merely 
baseless  but  impertinent.  Without  stepping  beyond 
the  analogy  of  that  which  is  known,  it  is  easy  to 
people  the  cosmos  with  entities  in  ascending  scale, 
until  we  reach  something  practicably  indistinguish- 
able from  omnipotence,  omnipresence,  omniscience. 

"If  our  intelligence  can  in  some  matters  surely 
reproduce  the  past  of  thousands  of  years  ago,  and 
anticipate  the  future  thousands  of  years  hence,  it 
is  clearly  within  the  limit  of  possibility  that  some 
greater  intellect  even  of  the  same  order  may  be 
able  to  mirror  the  whole  of  the  past  and  future." 

This    is    a    masterly    statement   that   demolishes 


ARE  WORLDS  INHABITED  271 

Alfred  Russell  Wallace's  little  arguments  like  a  trip- 
hammer would  an  eggshell.  Ruskin  also  saw  much 
good  in  the  idea  of  life  in  other  worlds  above  us, 
"in  creatures  as  much  nobler  than  ours  as  ours 
is  nobler  than  that  of  the  dust." 

When  once  the  unity  and  universality  of  force 
and  electric  life  are  made  clear,  and  spirit  and  psy- 
chic life  in  their  immortal  destiny  are  made  mani- 
fest, as  thinking  creatures  we  are  led  upward  to  a 
larger  development  of  life  and  power,  dominated 
by  a  supreme  intelligence  we  call  Deity,  Infinite 
Goodness  and  Spiritual  Father.  Then  we  remember 
that  he  has  assured  us  in  the  sacred  oracles,  that 
"we  shall  be  with  Him  and  shall  belike  Him,"  and 
that  there  are  many  mansions  in  the  skies. 

Our  scientists  tell  us  there  are  living  creatures  so 
small  and  so  numerous  that  it  would  take  millions 
of  worlds  like  ours  to  support  a  human  population 
equal  to  the  number  of  these  creatures  that  can 
live  and  move  in  one  cubic  inch  of  space.  Some 
of  these  multiply  at  the  rate  of  one  hundred  and 
seventy  thousand  millions  in  a  hundred  hours. 
And  I  say  every  one  is  a  tiny  electric  machine. 

The  electric  currents  that  built  our  world  from 
invisible  atoms  and  evolved  the  complex  substances 
of  which  it  is  composed,  and  the  myriad  forms  of 
organic  life  that  exist  on  its  surface  will  fill  other 
worlds  with  countless  forms  of  organic  life.  For 
in  the  great  electro-magnetic  sea  we  call  ether  and 
space,  in  which  all  things  float  or  exist,  and  which 
permeates  all  form  and  substance,  there  is  a  bound- 
less reservoir  of  electric  life  which  will  blossom  into 
infinite  grades  of  physical  organisms  wherever  the 
surface  of  suns,  planets  and  satellites  have  living 


272  THE  UNIVERSE 

environments  of  soil,  light  and  electric  currents. 
Even  the  soil  of  our  earth  maintains  life  because 
it  is  living  matter  itself.  And  some  forms  of  life 
will  exist  without  light  or  soil.  This  is  the  electric 
universe  in  solution,  the  life-giving  sea  of  all  form 
and  substance. 

Oh,  what  a  miracle  of  wonders  !  From  this  mar- 
velous reservoir  of  life,  force  and  substance  each 
created  thing  draws  the  elements  of  its  growth  and 
existence.  And  each  draws  from  the  same  source 
that  which  its  nature  requires.  The  oak  draws 
from  the  same  soil  and  air  as  the  hickory,  the  rose, 
the  apple  tree  and  the  poison  ivy.  But  the  oak 
converts  all  the  substance  it  gathers  into  the  natural 
fibre  of  the  oak,  the  hickory  into  the  natural  fibre 
of  the  hickory,  the  apple  tree  converts  it  into  the 
luscious  fruit  of  the  apple,  the  rose  into  the  delight- 
ful perfume  which  regales  our  senses,  and  the  poison 
ivy  converts  the  same  air  and  soil  into  deadly 
poison. 

This  is  the  marvel  of  electric  law  and  energy. 
How  does  it  do  it?  It  does  it,  I  contend,  by  the 
law  of  magnetic  currents  under  the  control  of  or- 
ganic affinity.  The  Bible  states  this  law  in  a  little 
different  form  when  it  says  God  caused  every  tree 
and  shrub  and  created  thing  to  bring  forth  seed 
of  its  kind.  Man,  like  all  nature,  also  draws  from 
one  common  intellectual  and  moral  reservoir.  And 
while  some  draw  inspiration  and  goodness,  others 
draw  poisonous  evil,  or,  rather,  convert  the  g;ood 
they  draw  into  evils.  And  each  brings  forth  of 
its  kind. 

I  do  not  believe  with  Prof.  Newcomb  that,  "in 
order  that  a  race  may  be  renewed  it  must  die  like 


ARE  WORLDS  INHABITED  273 

an  individual."  Or  that  the  Creative  Power,  after 
destroying  our  earth,  "will  await  with  sublime 
patience  the  evolution  of  a  new  earth  and  a  new 
order  of  animated  nature." 

The  Creative  Power  has  surely  as  much  sense  as 
an  ordinary  man,  and  no  man  builds  and  perfects 
a  fine  piece  of  machinery,  or  a  magnificent  mansion 
to  tear  it  down,  that  he  may  "wait  in  sublime 
patience"  the  building  of  another  to  take  its  place. 
We  should  give  God  credit  for  ordinary  business 
sense  in  the  construction  and  preservation  of  the 
universe,  which  generally  seems  to  be  denied  Him 
by  His  thinking  creatures. 

If  Creative  Wisdom  has  the  power  to  build  worlds, 
He  has  also  the  power  to  preserve  them;  and,  hav- 
ing that  power,  to  allow  them  to  go  to  decay  or 
be  destroyed  would  be  the  perverse  folly  of  a  malig- 
nant demon,  not  a  beneficent  Creator.  The  same  is 
true  of  the  destruction  of  a  race.  To  create,  build 
up,  enlighten  and  perfect  a  human  race,  and  then 
destroy  them  and  their  perfected  world,  would  be 
a  greater  crime  than  it  is  possible  for  man  or  devils 
to  perpetrate.  I  have  a  better  opinion  of  Deity, 
a  nobler  conception  of  His  justice  and  goodness 
than  that.  I  believe  in  a  God  who  cares,  not  the 
modern  God  of  the  atheistic  majority,  as  Mr.  Walker 
says,  "who  does  not  care."  A  God  who  does  not 
care  means  anarchy  and  chaos.  It  means  the 
obliteration  of  all  law,  all  moral  forces,  all  religious 
conceptions,  all  stability  and  consistency  in  the 
government  of  the  universe.  Why,  the  very  air  we 
breathe,  the  sunshine  that  gives  life,  the  regular  and 
constant  return  of  day  and  night,  of  seasons,  years 
and  months,  proclaim  a  God  who  cares.  Every 
18 


274  THE  UNIVERSE 

smiling  human  face,  every  generous  impulse  and 
noble  thought,  every  worthy  deed,  every  fragrant 
flower,  waving  field,  and  golden  harvest  testify  to 
a  God  who  cares. 

But  what  of  the  "red  claw"  of  the  tiger.  What 
of  the  big  fish  that  eat  the  little  ones,  or  the  de- 
struction of  life  by  flood  and  storm,  or  human 
trials,  sickness  and  death?  Are  these  things  con- 
sistent with  a  God  who  cares  ?  They  may  be.  The 
tiger  devours  to  appease  his  hunger,  the  big  fish 
eat  the  little  ones  for  the  same  purpose,  and  both 
obey  the  law  of  self-preservation  and  the  survival 
of  the  fittest.  These  two  laws  are  necessary  to  pre- 
serve the  life  of  their  kind,  and  perfect  their  species 
for  the  benefit  of  mankind.  It  seems  a  sad  spec- 
tacle to  see  the  strong  destroying  the  weak,  but 
it  is  in  the  earlier  stages  of  existence  the  only  way 
under  the  law  of  evolution  to  preserve  and  improve 
the  best  of  each  species,  and  is  a  kindness  and  a 
blessing  in  the  end. 

As  to  the  destruction  of  life  by  flood  and  storms, 
these  are  nature's  efforts  to  preserve  the  equili- 
brium of  her  mighty  forces,  and  where  a  few  are 
injured,  millions  are  benefited  and  blessed.  And 
as  to  man's  sickness  and  tribulations,  they  are  one- 
half  imaginary,  and  a  half  of  the  other  half  are  the 
result  of  their  own  folly  in  the  violation  of  the  laws 
of  health,  and  the  remaining  one  fourth  are  dis- 
ciplinary for  the  purpose  of  developing  character, 
which  is  an  ample  reward  and  compensation. 

As  to  death,  it  is  as  painless  as  going  to  sleep; 
it  is  the  dread  of  death  that  hurts.  And  if  it  is 
the  transition  process,  as  millions  believe,  by  which 
souls  drop  their  brief  tenement  of  atoms,  and  soar 


ARE  WORLDS  INHAB»BlLX!^-^        275 


on  tireless  wings  to  celestial  realms,  then  it  is  not 
a  curse  but  a  blessing,  especially  to  the  aged  and 
decrepid,  for  whom  life  has  no  charms. 

Will  man  never  cease  slandering  the  good  Deity, 
and  libeling  the  beneficent  Creator  of  all  good? 
With  most  people  the  fault  is  not  with  the  world 
or  controling  providence  and  Deity,  but  in  them- 
selves. They  make  their  own  world  in  their  own 
mind  and  then  find  fault  with  it  as  if  it  was  a 
reality. 

Albert  Russell  Wallace,  in  the  Fortnightly  Review 
of  March,  1903,  in  a  labored  article  of  great  length, 
undertakes  to  carry  the  world  back  a  thousand 
years  to  the  time  when  man  thought  the  earth  was 
the  center  of  the  universe,  and  the  stars  were  little 
openings  or  golden  nails  in  the  crystal  vault  of 
heaven.  He  says  we  are  at  the  center  of  the  uni- 
verse; that  our  sun  system  belongs  to  a  constel- 
lation situated  near  the  center  of  the  Milky  Way. 
This  may  be  true,  and  it  is  not  worth  disputing,  for 
if  we  are  at  the  center  now — as  our  system  travels 
420,000  miles  a  day — we  were  not  there  a  thousand 
years  ago,  and  in  a  few  decades  will  be  far  away 
from  it.  As  we  keep  moving  all  the  time,  and  do 
not  get  off  at  this  central  station  which  he  makes 
so  much  of,  I  see  nothing  gained  or  lost  if  it  is  true. 

But  in  order  to  show  that  it  is  central,  he  must 
limit  the  universe  and  give  its  circumference,  metes 
and  bounds.  This  is  an  immense  undertaking.  If 
our  universe  is  limited — and  Prof.  Newcomb  thought 
so  a  few  years  ago,  and  held  it  was  in  the  shape 
of  a  circle  or  disk,  which  was  about  thirty  thou- 
sand light  years  in  circumference  if  true,  then  the 
light  from  the  distant  stars  have  been  traveling 


276  THE  UNIVERSE 

thirty  thousand  years  in  order  to  reach  us,  and  they 
must  be  millions  of  miles  from  where  they  seem  to 
be.  Thus  the  center  of  the  universe  is  constantly 
changing,  and  it  would  take  omniscient  wisdom  to 
tell  where  the  center  is,  and  then  it  would  not  re- 
main the  center  many  hours.  This  would  be  true 
whether  the  universe  is  limited  or  unlimited. 

Mr.  Wallace  says,  "The  supreme  end  and  purpose 
of  this  vast  universe  is  the  production  and  devel- 
opment of  the  living  soul  in  the  perishable  body 
of  man."  If  he  had  said  that  was  the  supreme 
purpose  of  the  earth,  I  would  have  agreed  with 
him. 

But  since  he  makes  man's  development  the 
supreme  purpose  of  the  universe  and  says  all  other 
worlds  are  uninhabited,  I  am  forced  to  disagree 
with  him.  He  says  there  are  one  hundred  millions 
of  stars  and  planets  in  the  universe,  yet  he  depopu- 
lates them  all  for  man's  benefit,  and  then  fails  to 
show  how  man  can  be  benefitted,  or  for  what  pur- 
pose the  almost  countless  orbs  were  created.  In 
my  judgment  he  proves  himself  a  million  of  times 
wrong,  and  reaches  the  climax  of  unreasonable  con- 
jecture. I  believe  no  astronomer  will  agree  with 
him.  None  has  yet  appeared,  though  several  of 
the  most  eminent  have  already  expressed  their 
dissent  and  surprise  at  his  position.  His  reasons, 
to  my  mind,  do  not  justify  his  conclusions,  but  prove 
the  very  opposite  hypothesis. 

He  estimates  there  are  one  hundred  millions  of 
stars  and  worlds,  and  says  they  "are  all  composed 
of  the  same  elements  as  the  planets  and  solar  sys- 
tem. Wherever  organized  life  may  have  developed, 
it  must  be  built  up  out  of  the  same  fundamental 


ARE  WORLDS  INHABITED  277 

elements  as  here  on  earth."  Now,  I  fully  agree  with 
him  in  that  statement,  which  I  contend  shows  clearly 
that  these  worlds  are  inhabited.  For  if  they  possess 
the  same  elements  and  are  controlled  by  the  same 
laws,  they  must  produce  the  same  results  of  organic 
life  as  appear  on  our  earth;  and  his  arguments 
about  temperature,  proportion  of  land  and  water, 
etc.,  do  not  affect  the  question.  His  conclusions 
brand  the  Great  Architect  of  the  universe  as  an 
incompetent  and  wasteful  profligate,  and  is  con- 
trary to  all  analogy  in  human  reason,  to  all  law 
of  proportion  and  compensation,  and  to  "  the  eter- 
nal fitness  of  things." 

The  fact  that  our  earth  has  the  same  laws,  forces, 
and  substances  as  other  worlds  and  is  swarming 
with  its  countless  myriad  forms  of  organic  life; 
and  that  all  the  manifestations  of  nature's  creative 
forces  are  prolific  in  the  production  of  sentient 
beings,  is  conclusive  evidence  that  abundant  life 
exists  on  other  spheres,  and  other  worlds  are  not 
dreary  wastes  of  burning  plains  and  sandy  deserts. 
The  fact  that  the  Creative  Spirit  built  up  man's 
body  through  ages  of  animal  growth  and  perfecting 
bodily  development,  or  modeled  it  after  such  per- 
fected animal  forms,  and  then  breathed  His  own 
life  and  spirit  into  it,  and  made  man  a  spiritual, 
eternal  being  like  Deity  Himself,  is  strong  evidence 
that  in  other  suns  and  worlds  he  has  done  likewise ; 
and  that  they  are  the  theatres  of  spiritual  as  well 
as  of  vegetable  and  animal  life.  God  creates  be- 
cause He  is  Love  and  must  have  spiritual  children 
as  the  objects  of  His  affection. 

This  reason  would  cause  him  to  people  other 
worlds  with  the  highest  order  of  intelligent  creatures 


278  THE  UNIVERSE 

similar  to  man.  And  the  great  planets,  and  great 
suns,  like  Sirius,  Alpha  Lyra,  Vega  and  Alcyone, 
which  are  a  thousand  times  larger  than  our  sun, 
should  possess  beings  of  greater  intellectual  and 
spiritual  faculties  than  our  earth  in  proportion  to 
their  superior  grandeur  and  power. 

Thus  the  infinite  wisdom  and  power  of  Creative 
Deity,  and  the  laws  and  creations  He  has  evolved 
on  this  earth,  teach  us  that  in  other  worlds  and  suns 
He  has  created  other  and  numerous  types  of  intelli- 
gent beings;  and  that  living  organic  creatures  of 
His  bounty  in  all  suns  and  spheres  honor  and  adore 
His  infinite  goodness,  power  and  love. 


His  suns  and  worlds  are  countless  as  the  stars—- 
His jeweled  finger-prints.    Through  chequered  bars 
Of  light  and  shade  all  life  is  shadow  of  His  breath— 
An  uttered  thought.    And  law  and  change  and  death 
His  angel  messengers.     His  spirit  truth 
Preserves  the  universe  in  fadeless  youth. 

The  palpable  Infinite!    who  can  know? 

Mind  from  a  mustard  seed  to  world,  must  grow. 

The  past,  the  emblems  of  His  power  hath  wrought 

Whose  thought  created  first  creating  thought, 

And  veiled  in  mists  above  Olympian  throne 

We  know  the  unknown  God  is  God  alone. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

THE   ELECTRICAL   THEORY  OF    CREATION   WILL   SAVE 
MODERN  SCIENCE  FROM  PANTHEISM 

IT  is  marvelous  the  number  of  scientists  who  ques- 
tion the  fact  as  to  whether  there  is  a  personal  God, 
and  who  look  upon  the  universe  and  its  laws  and 
operations  as  the  manifestation  of  a  universal  intel- 
ligence that  has  no  existence  except  as  it  is  infused 
as  an  invisible  force  through  all  nature.  In  other 
words,  pantheism,  or  belief  in  a  world-God,  has  been 
taking  the  place  of  the  materialism  of  the  past 
century.  And  a  vast  array  of  distinguished  agnos- 
tics, so-called,  from  Darwin,  Spinoza,  Huxley  and 
Haeckel  to  Ingersoll,  were  really  believers  in  pan- 
theism. 

Haeckel  says  he  adheres  to  the  Monism  of  Spinoza 
which,  he  says,  is  "  matter,  or  infinitely  extended  sub- 
stance; and  spirit  or  energy,  which  is  sensitive  and 
thinking  substance.  These  are  the  two  fundamental 
attributes  or  principal  properties  of  the  all-embrac- 
ing, divine  essence  of  the  world — the  universal  sub- 
stance." What  is  this  but  pantheism  of  the  rankest 
old,  obsolete,  pagan  kind?  What  is  "the  all-embrac- 
ing divine  essence  of  the  world — the  universal  sub- 
stance," but  a  substitute  for  God, — a  God  which  is 
simply  the  substance  of  the  world — a  world-God. 
According  to  this,  all  the  elements  of  the  universe 
are  parts  of  Deity.  The  crystalline  rocks  and  metals 


280  THE  UNIVERSE 

of  the  earth,  the  dust  we  kick  from  our  feet,  the 
manure  of  the  stable,  and  the  odor  of  decaying 
vegetation  are  all  a  part  of  the  body  of  God.  And 
this,  they  claim,  is  the  God  of  the  universe,  and  the 
only  God  there  is. 

This  is  a  fair  analysis  of  pantheism,  of  Haeckelism, 
Darwin  and  Huxleyism,  Ingersoll  and  agnosticism. 
What  a  shame  on  human  reason  !  Yet  these  great 
thinkers,  seeing  the  intelligibility  of  nature,  its  uni- 
formity of  laws  and  operations,  without  a  knowledge 
of  electricity  were  forced  to  this  conclusion. 

A  recent  pamphlet  by  F.  B.  Titus,  a  barrister  of 
Toronto,  entitled  "The  Pantheism  of  Modern  Sci- 
ence," says:  "A  summary  of  recent  investigations 
into  life,  force  and  substance  and  the  opinions  based 
by  scientists  thereon  leads  up  to  the  conclusion  that 
there  is  in  nature  a  universal  mind  controling  and 
permeating  nature's  manifestations." 

In  this  I  agree,  but  it  is  the  universal  mind  of 
Deity  as  manifested  through  the  marvelous  creative 
forces  of  electricity.  But  this  writer  sums  up  his 
facts  and  theories,  and  concludes  that  the  pantheism 
of  the  universe  is  the  only  explanation  of  all  the 
countless  and  complicated  forces  and  organisms  of 
life  which  are  to  be  found  everywhere.  And  he  con- 
tends the  modern  tendency  of  science  is  back  to  the 
old  discarded  pagan  belief  of  pantheism.  Even 
Flammarion  seems  imbued  with  that  idea,  and 
Haeckel  championed  it  in  his  monistic  theories. 
But  as  a  knowledge  of  electricity  has  killed  mate- 
rialism, so  will  it  defeat  and  destroy  pantheism. 
This  lawyer-scientist  thinks  nothing  can  prevent 
science  from  falling  into  the  arms  of  pantheism,  and 
he  champions  it  vigorously. 


ELECTRICAL  THEORY  SAVES  FROM  PANTHEISM  281 

But  for  the  discovery  of  electricity  this  would  have 
been  an  age  of  scientific  materialism  and  pantheism. 
But  the  marvelous  powers  of  this  invisible  force 
appals  the  stolid  thinkers  on  "  solid  matter."  They 
have  found  there  is  no  solid  matter,  and  that  all 
matter  in  its  primary  form,  and  all  force  is  as  in- 
visible as  spirit,  and  that  the  universe  swings  on 
invisible  forces  as  intangible  as  mind  and  as  potent 
and  inscrutable  as  destiny. 

The  conflict  in  the  future  between  religion  and 
Atheism  will  be  chiefly  a  belief  in  a  God  that  cares, 
or  a  God  that  does  not  care ;  and  in  science  between 
an  electric  universe  controlled  by  spirit  and  a  pan- 
theistic universe  that  thinks  and  feels  in  all  its 
parts,  and  is  itself  the  God  of  all.  This  last  is  vir- 
tually the  position  of  Darwin,  Huxley  and  all  the 
agnostics  from  them  to  Ingersoll,  and  embraces 
Haeckel's  moneism  in  its  definition. 

Let  us  see  from  whence  they  get  their  facts  on 
which  they  base  their  theories.  They  say:  "The 
evolution  going  on  in  the  inorganic  world  is  an 
evolution  of  intelligent  life."  I  say  that  what  they 
call  intelligence  is  the  result  of  electric  laws  and 
affinity ;  that  the  selection  of  atoms  and  their  repul- 
sion and  the  building  of  matter  into  substance  and 
form  is  the  intelligent  operation  of  these  electric 
laws,  which  originated  in  the  infinite  intelligence  and 
power  of  the  Creator.  They  say:  "The  soil  main- 
tains life  because  it  is  living  matter  itself."  And  I 
agree  with  them,  and  say  all  matter  is  living  mat- 
ter because  it  is  permeated  with  electric  life  and 
energy  and  governed  by  electric  law. 

They  say :  "Metals  in  fact  are  sensitive  things, 
like  living  organisms."  I  say  they  are  "sensitive" 


282  THE  UNIVERSE 

because  they  are  easily  electrified,  and  respond 
quickly  to  magnetic  energy.  They  say,  with  Dr. 
Thomas  Young,  "  There  are  all  gradations  of  sub- 
stance stretching  all  the  way  from  the  solid  material 
to  the  spiritual,  and  gradations  of  consciousness 
from  the  inert  mineral  to  the  highest  manifesting 
God."  And  I  agree  with  them  in  a  sense,  for  the 
consciousness  in  matter  is  electric  energy,  and  in 
God  and  man  it  is  spirit. 

That  these  electric  laws  are  intelligent,  constant 
and  wonderful  we  have  abundant  proof  every  day  of 
our  existence.  Prof.  Japp  of  the  British  Association 
says  :  "No  fortuitous  concourse  of  atoms,  even  with 
all  eternity  for  them  to  clash  and  combine  in,  could 
compass  the  feat  of  the  formation  of  the  first  opti- 
cally organic  compound."  This  is  true,  for  only  the 
infinite  wisdom  of  creative  law  and  electric  energy 
could  do  it.  It  is  not  fortuitous  or  accidental ;  it  is 
in  accord  with  nature's  perfect  laws  of  electric  com- 
binations. 

I  am  willing  to  admit  that  ' '  inherent  selective  and 
directive  force"  is  exhibited  in  organic  and  inorganic 
matter.  And  I  explain  it  by  the  laws  of  electro- 
magnetism.  Agnostic  pantheism  has  no  explana- 
tion. They  say  that  nature  shows  some  sense  and 
intelligence;  therefore  nature,  the  world,  this  great 
globe,  is  God. 

They  quote  from  their  great  authority,  Huxley, 
who  said  that  "Life  was  present  potentially  in  mat- 
ter when  in  the  nebulous  form  and  was  unfolded  from 
it  by  the  way  of  natural  development."  I  am  willing 
to  admit  it,  and  to  go  one  step  further,  and  say  it 
was  there  before  the  nebulas  was  formed  in  the 
electric  currents  of  life  and  power,  which  are  the  first 


ELECTRICAL  THEORY  SAVES  FROM  PANTHEISM    283 

manifestations  of  creative  force.  The  potentiality  of 
all  physical  life  was  there  in  those  electric  currents, 
but  not  the  spirit  or  soul-life  of  man.  That  came 
long  after,  when  the  animal  organism  had  been 
evolved  and  perfected. 

Yes,  truly,  in  a  natural  sense,  as  Kingsley  says  : 
"Water  hates  the  oil  with  which  it  refuses  to  mix; 
and  lime  loves  the  acid  which  it  receives  into  itself, 
and  like  a  lover  grows  warm  with  the  rapture  of  its 
affection."  This  refusal  of  water  and  oil  to  mix  is 
caused  by  electric  repulsion,  and  lime  and  acid  is  a 
simple  form  of  electric  attraction.  Then  the  pan- 
theists dwell  on  what  they  call  the  "soul-life  of 
plants,"  the  intelligence  of  birds  and  beasts,  and  the 
regularity  of  seasons,  years,  and  earth  and  sun 
revolutions,  and  all  natural  phenomena,  which  they 
say  proves  the  world  is  God.  All  of  which  I  have 
endeavored  to  explain  by  electrical  law  and  proc- 
esses; and  they  conclude  all  these  things  prove  the 
pantheism  of  the  universe. 

Let  us  notice  some  of  the  wonderful  workings  and 
transmutations  in  nature  on  which  the  advocates 
of  pantheism  rely.  Mr.  Titus,  as  one  of  its  cham- 
pions, says  :  "There  is  a  common  bond  of  unity  be- 
tween the  different  kingdoms  of  nature — the  mineral, 
vegetable  and  animal.  That  there  is  some  primal 
atomic  or  common  condition,  some  homogeneous 
substance  in  nature,  some  elemental  essence  from  the 
aggregations  and  combinations  of  which  all  forms 
are  built  up."  This  is  undoubtedly  true,  and  proves 
that  in  the  atoms  and  electric  laws  of  nature  there 
are  ample  means  for  the  creation  of  infinite  sub- 
stances and  countless  organic  beings.  This  does  not 
prove  pantheism.  It  only  proves  progressive,  wise 


284  THE  UNIVERSE 

electric,  natural  laws  and  forces.  This  "  elemental 
essence  from  which  all  forms  are  built"  I  have 
shown  elsewhere  to  be  the  ocean  of  electro-magnet- 
ism permeating  all  space  and  all  life  forms. 

He  says  :  "  The  processes  of  digestion  and  assimila- 
tion in  man  furnish  evidence"  of  these  things.  That 
"the  vegetable  kingdom  has  power  to  assimilate 
earth  and  mineral  and  change  it  into  vegetable, 
and  in  turn  is  digested  and  assimilated  by  the 
animal,  and  converted  into  an  entirely  different 
kingdom  of  nature."  This  is  true,  and  I  have  shown 
how  this  is  purely  an  electric  process. 

The  dream  of  the  alchemist,  of  the  transmutation 
of  metals,  is  mere  child's-play  compared  with  the 
processes  of  nature  occurring  every  day  in  the  hu- 
man body.  These  are  all  electric  transmutations  by 
means  of  respiration,  by  digestion  and  assimilation 
of  food,  whereby  a  great  variety  of  substance  is 
converted  into  blood  and  bone,  tissue  and  muscle, 
and  all  the  functions  of  life  preserved.  It  is  also  a 
correct  statement  that  "all  forms  of  matter  have  as 
their  basis  one  common  element,  denominated  pri- 
mordial matter,  protoplasm  and  homogeneous  sub- 
stance, all  intended  to  designate  the  first  form  of 
matter." 

This  is  true,  and  we  found  the  first  form  of  matter 
to  be  the  electric  currents  of  space,  and  the  second 
form  of  matter  to  be  the  atom  or  molecule,  and 
afterwards  came  the  primordial  cell  or  protoplasm. 
We  also  found  that  there  was  and  is  a  common 
reservoir  of  life  which  stands  back  of  its  myriad 
manifestations  upon  the  physical  plane;  a  great 
ocean  of  vitality,  which  each  organized  being  ab- 
sorbs and  gives  out  as  we  inhale  and  exhale  the  air 


ELECTRICAL  THEORY  SAVES  FROM  PANTHEISM    285 

we  breathe.  And  that  reservoir  of  life  is  the  vast 
ocean  of  electro-magnetism  in  which  all  things  float 
and  exist  as  in  a  sea  of  magnetic  life-giving  power. 

The  old  hypothetical  atom  and  stolid  or  solid 
matter  was  dead,  according  to  the  scientists  of  a 
few  decades  ago.  But  the  electrician,  dealing  with  a 
higher  grade  of  matter,  found  that  the  old  idea  of 
matter  as  dead  and  inert  was  untrue,  and  would 
not  accord  with  the  facts.  So  that  a  new  definition 
of  an  atom  had  to'  be  formulated,  defining  it  as  an 
electric  center  of  force  and  motion.  And  some  physi- 
cists deem  life  to  be  co-eternal  with  matter.  Which 
is  not  an  unreasonable  hypothesis  as  applied  to 
physical  life  and  substance. 

Prof.  Tyndall  in  1872  said:  "Life  was  present 
potentially  in  matter  when  in  the  nebulous  form,  and 
was  unfolded  from  it  by  the  way  of  natural  develop- 
ment." In  this  I  agree  with  Prof.  Tyndall  as  to  all 
life,  except  the  spiritual  or  psychic  life  of  man.  And 
I  have  elsewhere  tried  to  show  how  physical  life  came 
from  the  electric  currents  which  formed  the  nebula, 
and  which  was  afterwards  woven  into  the  earth  by 
electric  and  atomic  assimilation. 

Ah  !  now  we  come  to  the  gist  of  all  this  scientific 
trouble — pessimistic,  agnostic  and  pantheistic.  It  is 
this:  "Modern  science  is  firmly  rooted  in  the  con- 
viction that  inherent  powers  and  qualities  gradually 
unfolded  under  the  operation  of  natural  laws,  rather 
than  in  a  supernatural,  extra-cosmic  volition  intro- 
ducing arbitrarily  new  forces."  And  modern  science 
is  partly  right.  She  is  right  in  her  facts  and  her 
conclusions  on  this  vital  and  basic  point  as  to  all 
physical  creations  and  natural  forces  and  powers. 
But  I  insist  that  the  creation  of  the  soul  or  psychic 


286  THE  UNIVERSE 

life  and  powers  of  man  are  an  exception,  and  do  not 
come  within  the  domain  of  physical  creations.  They 
are  on  a  higher  plane  and  as  much  above  the  realm 
of  material  forms  and  substances  as  our  sun  is 
above  the  earth.  They  belong  to  the  spiritual  world, 
to  the  realms  of  Deity,  to  the  kingdom  of  God  and 
the  hosts  of  heaven. 

They  are  a  part  of  the  great  natural  forces  of  the 
universe.  Theologians  call  them  supernatural  forces, 
but  they  are  the  natural  creative  and  controlling 
forces  that  have  sovereignty  over  all  the  vast  and 
complicated  forms  of  the  visible,  material  universe. 

Therefore  on  the  physical  facts  of  organic  creation 
I  agree  generally  with  the  scientists.  And  if  they 
had  been  informed  in  some  of  the  vital  and  intelli- 
gent processes  of  electrical  creation,  they  would  never 
have  believed  in  pantheism,  or  been  pessimistic 
sceptics  or  hopeless  agnostics.  And  in  my  judgment 
the  only  thing  that  will  redeem  modern  science  from 
pantheism  is  the  prevalent  belief  in  and  acceptance 
of  the  theory  of  electrical  creation. 

This  will  explain  the  harmony,  intelligence,  con- 
tinuity and  perfection  of  the  physical  universe,  and 
relieve  their  minds  of  all  grounds  for  scepticism. 

There  is  "an  intelligence  or  selective  power"  in 
matter.  There  is  a  great  "Chemist-Physicist"  super- 
intending nature's  operations,  sorting  out  two  parts 
of  hydrogen  and  one  of  oxygen  to  compose  the  rain- 
drop and  the  waters  of  the  ocean.  It  is  no  "for- 
tuitous concourse  of  atoms,"  which  accomplishes 
these  results  and  preserves  the  life  of  the  world.  It 
is  the  omniscient  wisdom  embraced  in  the  laws  and 
forces  of  electric  energy,  which  is  the  right  hand  of 
Deity  and  the  word  of  Creative  power. 


ELECTRICAL  THEORY  SAVES   FROM  PANTHEISM  287 

To  show  the  possibility  and  ease  with  which  many 
of  the  Bible  miracles  could  have  been  performed  by 
natural  processes  at  the  volition  of  Divine  power, 
Dr.  Albert  G.  Geyser  of  New  York  City,  on  May 
14,  1903,  according  to  the  New  York  World,  eluci- 
dated many  of  the  miracles  by  the  use  of  electricty 
and  the  X-ray.  This  he  did  before  the  members  of 
the  priesthood  of  the  Holy  Name  Society  of  St. 
Anselm's  Church,  to  whom  he  said  he  felt  he  would 
be  able  to  demonstrate  that  the  miracles  were  in  no 
way  inconsistent  with  science.  After  setting  up  his 
apparatus,  he  said  : 

"For  centuries  those  who  thought  deeply  on  the 
matter  have  been  puzzled  with  grave  doubts  as  to 
the  possibility  of  God  being  all-seeing  and  all-hear- 
ing. What  did  the  telephone  reveal  thirty  years 
ago  ?  Did  it  not  reveal  forces  in  nature  that  would 
allow  men  to  hear  voices  at  great  distances?  And 
now,  thanks  to  the  great  Roentgen  invention  of 
only  nine  years  ago,  we  are  able  to  see  through  a 
four-foot  wall  simply  by  means  of  this  puny  ap- 
paratus." 

Then  he  set  the  great  glass  wheels  of  his  battery 
in  action  and  allowed  his  audience  to  look  through 
pieces  of  thick  timber,  and  other  solid  bodies.  He 
showed  how  simple  it  was  to  produce  a  halo  of 
electric  fire  about  his  head  though  he  remained  a 
distance  of  ten  feet  from  the  apparatus.  As  he 
raised  the  two  negative  and  positive  poles  to  his 
head  the  electricity  passed  through  and  out  of  the 
crown  of  his  head  in  a  circle  of  flame.  Then  he  com- 
pelled his  machine  to  shoot  jagged  flashes  of  light- 
ning. Then,  referring  to  the  Bible  account  of  the 
descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  a  pillar  of  fire,  he 


288  THE  UNIVERSE 

called  for  volunteers,  and  Thomas  MacKaye  came 
forward  onto  the  platform.  He  then  placed  two 
steel  rods  on  each  side  of  him,  and  started  his  ap- 
paratus, when  tiny  sparks  began  to  jet  off  of  Mr. 
MacKaye' s  clothing.  Soon  the  sparks  grew  to  curl- 
ing flames,  and  the  man's  entire  body  became  as  a 
mass  of  writhing  blue  and  white  flame.  Yet  after- 
wards when  he  stepped  from  the  platform  not  a 
thread  of  his  clothing  was  singed.  Rev.  Father 
Ruppert,  at  the  close,  said:  " Nothing  I  have  ever 
seen  has  brought  me  to  so  fully  understand  God's 
miracles." 

These  pantheistic  devotees  are  even  trying  to 
make  waves  of  ether,  air  and  water  intelligible 
things,  and  seem  to  think  they  are  in  the  nature 
of  a  circulating  medium  for  this  world-God,  like 
blood  is  the  circulating  medium  of  man's  body. 
Even  so  orthodox  a  scientist  as  Prof.  Serviss,  in 
the  New  York  American  of  May  16th,  1903,  goes 
into  panegyrics  over  waves  and  wave  motion  as 
follows:  "The  undulatory  theory  of  energy  is 
carrying  everything  before  it.  It  is  not  saying  too 
much  to  aver  that  wave  motion  is  concerned  in 
nearly  all  the  phenomena  of  physical  life  .  .  . 
Think  for  a  moment  of  what  is  included  in  the 
science  of  waves.  In  the  air  all  sounds,  all  musical 
harmonies  are  waves;  in  the  solid  globe,  all  earth- 
quakes are  waves;  in  the  ether  light,  electricity 
and  heat  are  waves.  It  is  waves  that  make  the 
stars  visible,  and  yet  more  mysterious  oscillations 
picture  for  us  on  photographic  plates  marvelous 
nebulous  objects.  Lord  Kelvin  has  been  credited 
with  the  statement  that  the  fluttering  of  a  butter- 
fly'swing  sets  up  vibrations  that  shake  the  universe." 


ELECTRICAL  THEORY  SAVES  FROM  PANTHEISM  289 

This  is  superficial  science,  for  it  explains  nothing. 
Waves  are  simply  a  form  of  motion,  and  a  form 
of  motion  creates  nothing.  Vibrations  of  what? 
Wave  motions  of  what?  Our  learned  friend  does 
not  inform  us.  Vibrations  and  wave  motions 
are  like  heat  sensations,  they  are  not  realities;  the 
force  that  creates  them  is  the  reality,  and  they 
are  but  the  mode  or  law  of  operation.  The  reality — 
the  force  creating  these  vibrations  and  wave  motions 
— is  electricity.  Yet  he  does  not  mention  this  fact 
or  any  cause,  but  gives  all  the  credit  to  the  motion 
or  manner  of  motion,  and  ignores  the  cause,  which 
is  the  most  important  of  all.  Mr.  Titus  seems  to 
think  motion  has  consciousness,  for  he  states  that, 
"the  consciousness  which  is  wrapped  up  in  motion" 
becomes  more  or  less  active  in  matter,  and  that 
God  sleeps  in  the  atom,  and  man  is  a  potential 
deity. 

These  wonderful  manifestations  of  electricity  are 
used  by  these  pantheists  to  bolster  up  their  theory 
of  these  being  manifestations  of  intelligence  in 
nature.  And  so  they  are,  but  they  should  remem- 
ber that  nature  is  the  art  of  God,  not  God  him- 
self and  God's  art  is  wise  and  perfect.  We  have 
a  new  definition  of  life  given  us  which  shows  won- 
derful intelligence  in  the  various  parts  of  man's 
bod}r.  It  is  by  Prof.  Justus  Gaule  of  Zurich.  In 
the  American  Journal  of  Psycology,  January, 
1903.  He  says  :  "The  whole  organism  resembles 
a  chemical  laboraory  with  as  many  apartments 
as  there  are  organs  or  glands."  As  all  chemical 
changes  are  electric  changes,  a  chemical  labora- 
tory is  the  same  as  an  electric  laboratory.  He  con- 
tinues :  "The  substances  produced  in  each  apart- 
19 


290  THE  UNIVERSE 

ment  are  those  needed  in  others  either  for  their 
construction  or  for  their  work."  According  to 
him  life  consists  partly  in  a  continual  process  of 
interchange  and  reconstruction,  at  times  sufficiently 
violent  to  tear  muscles,  mutilate  nerves  and  cause 
stoppage  of  blood — a  process  that  goes  on  "in  the 
interior  of  the  organism  without  external  excite- 
ment." Herbert  Spencer  defines  life  as  "the  con- 
tinuous adjustment  of  internal  relations  to  exter- 
nal relations,"  but  Gaule's  definition  of  life  lays 
stress  on  the  vital  interplay  between  the  parts  of 
the  organism,  which  makes  it  a  machine  trans- 
forming external  energy.  He  asserts  that  the  living 
organism  is  more  than  a  machine,  because  it  does 
not  create  energy  directly  from  combustible  mater- 
ials, but  only  after  building  up  its  own  tissues. 

He  says  a  machine  does  work,  but  it  does  not 
create  and  repair  itself  like  living  organisms.  He 
would  therefore  modify  the  prevailing  definition  of 
organic  life,  and  make  it  not  only  a  machine,  but 
more  than  a  machine,  and  emphasize  the  fact  that 
life  is  as  much  an  interaction  between  various  parts 
of  the  organism  as  between  the  organism  and  the 
world  of  exterior  matter.  He  says  one  organ  of 
the  body  may  lose  in  bulk,  in  order  that  others 
may  increase.  This  he  has  studied  experimentally 
in  the  frog,  and  finds  that  at  one  time  the  organs 
of  sex  grow  at  the  expense  of  the  muscles  and  liver, 
and  at  another  time  the  reverse  is  true,  and  he 
insists  that  "life  is  a  continuous  process  of  recon- 
struction within  the  vital  organism."  This  is  an 
important  addition  to  the  definition  of  life  and 
tends  to  support  the  electric  theory,  for  every  func- 
tion of  the  body  is  adapted  to  generate  the  electric 


ELECTRICAL  THEORY  SAVES  FROM  PANTHEISM    291 

energy    needed    for    itself   and    other    parts    of   its 
organism. 

It  is  true  that  solid  metals,  wood  and  stones  are 
in  a  constant  state  of  molecular  motion.  Accord- 
ing to  Sir  Norman  Lockyer,  ' '  the  stones  of  which 
St.  Paul's  Cathedral  is  built  consist  of  millions  of 
millions  of  small  particles  called  molecules,  and 
although  the  structure  seems  absolutely  at  rest, 
as  if  it  would  last  forever;  yet,  when  you  get  down 
into  the  intimate  structure  of  each  stone  and  every 
part  of  the  fabric,  you  get  nothing  but  a  multi- 
tudinous ocean  of  motion."  Now,  Mr.  Titus  says, 
"  there  is  some  inner  hidden  power  which  marshals 
and  controls  the  innumerable  host  of  molecules  in 
all  matter  and  keeps  them  whirling  with  tireless 
energy."  This  is  true,  and  I  fully  agree  with  him. 
But  he  thinks  it  is  the  world-God  in  the  atoms; 
and  I  think  it  is  electric  energy — working  under 
the  intelligent  laws  of  the  world-God,  the  sun-God 
and  the  God  of  the  universe. 

All  these  pantheistic  scientists  have  never  con- 
sidered the  wonderful  powers  and  utilities  of  electric 
currents  and  electric  energy  which  permeates  all 
matter,  from  atoms  to  worlds.  When  they  do  so, 
they  will  see  in  electricity  an  intelligent  and  power- 
ful causality  which  will  satisfy  their  minds  and 
lead  them  away  from  pantheism  and  its  follies. 

They  are  great  believers  in  evolution,  and  so  am 
I,  and  what  they  require  in  evolution  is,  "the  in- 
herent power  of  the  evolving  entity  to  respond  to 
external  influences."  This  being  the  requisite,  they 
have  all  they  ask  in  the  magnetic  currents  and  elec- 
tric energy  pervading  all  nature.  It  is  a  fact  that 
the  human  body  contains  millions  of  microscopic 


292  THE  UNIVERSE 

organisms  working  under  the  dominion  of  one 
human  life,  and,  in  other  words,  man  is  in  his  body 
a  vast  colony  of  microbes  or  protozoans  supposed 
to  be  endowed  with  consciousness  and  volition. 

A  battle  in  germland  is  described  by  Dr.  Donald 
Ross  in  investigating  the  microbes  of  malaria.  This 
was  a  fight  between  a  malaria  microbe,  and  three 
phagocytes  which  are  said  to  protect  the  purity 
of  the  blood.  He  says  :  "  While  observing  a  malaria 
germ  I  saw  a  phagocyte  make  its  way  to  the  malaria 
germ  with  the  intent  of  devouring  it.  Ordinarily 
this  would  be  easy,  but  the  germ,  instead  of  allow- 
ing itself  to  be  attacked,  attacked  the  phagocyte  in 
a  battle  royal  that  lasted  over  fifteen  minutes. 
Finally  the  germ  drew  off,  and  hurried  to  where 
another  phagocyte  was  wandering  aimlessly. 

"It  hurled  itself  on  the  second  phagocyte,  push- 
ing hard  against  it  with  its  arms,  while  the  phago- 
cyte tried  to  rear  up  and  get  around  and  envelope 
the  germ,  but  finally  gave  up  and  flattened  itself 
against  an  air  bubble,  while  the  germ  still  kept 
on  pummeling  it.  After  fifteen  minutes  another 
phagocyte  appeared  coming  rapidly  across  the 
field.  The  germ  then  left  its  fallen  foe  and  attacked 
the  newcomer.  The  third  phagocyte  got  enough 
of  it  in  about  one  minute  and  turned  squarely 
around,  fleeing  across  the  whole  field,  the  germ 
hanging  on  like  a  snake  on  a  dog.  After  five  min- 
utes the  germ  let  go  and  the  phagocyte  slunk  away. 
The  malaria  germ  had  by  this  time  reached  the 
limits  of  its  endurance  in  the  rapidly  weakening 
blood  and  finally  attached  itself  to  the  glass  of  the 
slide  and  died." 

Few  people  can  believe  that  such  scenes  as  these 


ELECTRICAL  THEORY  SAVES  FROM  PANTHEISM   293 

may  take  place  in  the  life-giving  blood  currents  of 
their  own  bodies.  Yet,  if  we  believe  those  who  have 
studied  the  millions  of  microscopic  life  forms  which 
live  in  our  bodies,  such  scenes  may  occur  there. 
According  to  biologists,  billions  of  microbes  are 
generated  in  our  bodies  too  infinitesimal  to  be 
observed  by  a  microscope.  And  they  say  their 
fermentation  in  countless  numbers  produces  a  poison 
which  creates  irritation,  the  decrepitude  of  age  and 
finally  death.  They  say  visible  microbes  show  in- 
telligence. 

Engleman  seems  to  hold  that  such  facts  as  these 
and  those  connected  with  molecular  organisms, 
"  point  to  the  presence  of  some  psychic  powers  in 
the  protoplasm."  But  I  do  not  think  so.  They 
only  show  the  wonderful  and  diversified  powers  of 
electric  energy  under  divine  law  to  evolve  myriads 
of  microscopic  life  that  acts  under  intelligent  electric 
impulses,  which  in  its  matured  form  we  call  animal 
instinct. 

Thus  we  have  traced  conscious  life  from  the  dust 
out  of  which  man's  body  was  formed  up  through 
all  the  intervening  kingdoms  of  nature  until  we 
reach  man  himself,  who  is  the  only  creature  that 
possesses  a  spiritual  nature,  a  psychic  soul,  and  an 
immortal  destiny. 

From  the  grossest  materialism  man  and  human 
science  is  rising  at  last  to  the  truth  and  conception 
of  a  spiritual  world  of  so  exalted  an  order,  and 
so  sublime  a  reality,  that  it  has  been  said,  "to 
connect  the  mind  of  man  with  the  Spirit  of  God." 

All  nature  affirms  that  there  is  a  Supreme  intelli- 
gence working  through  electric  law  within  the  mani- 
fest universe,  which  is  its  living  electric  organism. 


294  THE  UNIVERSE 

That  all  physical  law  and  life  are  bound  together 
in  an  all-embracing  whole,  whose  myriad  aspects 
serve  to  mark  the  path  of  evolution,  and  to  spur 
each  individual  member  on  to  progress  and  per- 
fection. That  through  the  whole  realm  of  nature 
the  one  electric  life  pulsates  and  stirs  the  smallest 
atom  and  the  mightiest  star.  But  above  all  is  the 
eternal  power  of  Deity  and  the  deathless  spirit  of 
man,  blended  in  a  stronger  unity  than  that  of 
nature,  linked  in  a  joyous  and  an  eternal  destiny, 
sovereigns  of  worlds,  rulers  of  suns  and  masters  of 
the  universe. 

Because  of  the  perfect  unity  and  harmony  of  the 
universe,  the  wisdom  and  regularity  of  all  its  move- 
ments and  functions,  and  the  apparent  intelligence 
of  its  lower  living  organisms,  the  agnostics  embrace 
monism  and  pantheism.  But  these  are  not  good 
reasons.  They  are  better  explained  by  the  electrical 
theory  of  creation  than  by  any  other  hypothesis 
ever  offered  in  human  history.  They  show  how  and 
why  this  vast  universe  is  a  perfect,  harmonious  or- 
ganism, in  accordance  with  natural  law.  This  has 
never  been  attempted  before. 

Nikola  Tesla  asserts  most  truly  that  "of  all  the 
views  of  nature,  the  one  which  assumes  one  matter 
and  one  force,  and  a  perfect  uniformity  throughout, 
is  the  most  scientific  and  the  most  liable  to  be  true." 
Electrical  creation  seems  to  fully  comply  with  these 
requirements.  And  Prof.  Crookes  affirms  that,  "the 
seventy  elements  of  our  text  books  are  not  the 
pillars  of  Hercules  which  we  must  never  hope  to 
pass."  While  Langley  says  there  is  only  one 
force,  and  light  and  heat  are  merely  sensations. 
And  Sir  Wm,  Grove  refers  the  causation  of  all  forms 


ELECTRICAL  THEORY  SAVES  FROM  PANTHEISM    295 

of  force  to  one  omnipresent  influence.  And  all  agree 
there  is  only  one  matter,  so  they  all  seem  to  be 
approaching  a  universal  belief  in  electrical  creation. 
And  every  argument  made  for  pantheism  and  mon- 
ism is  an  argument  made  for  a  stronger  and  better 
theory — the  electric  theory  of  creation.  And  the 
champion  of  pantheism  as  well  as  the  electric  theory 
affirms  :  ' 'Since  we  are  all  bound  together  in  one 
common  enterprise  in  which  progress  is  hastened 
through  the  harmony  of  its  parts,  altruism  becomes 
profound  wisdom,  selfishness  a  mark  of  ignorance, 
and  the  highest  codes  of  ethics  are  the  most  scien- 
tific expression  of  nature's  laws." 

The  superior  power  of  this  age  consists  in  its 
superior  ability  to  deal  ingeniously  and  wisely  with 
the  tremendous  forces  concealed  in  matter,  and 
held  subject  to  nature's  law. 

A  knowledge  and  application  of  these  forces  and 
laws  have  been  the  means  of  marvelous  progress, 
untold  blessings  to  humanity,  and  have  lifted  life 
from  its  narrow  bounds  to  a  joyous,  ecstatic  sense 
of  the  glory,  beauty  and  divineness  of  this  world. 
As  the  ancients  saw  this  universe  it  was  but  a  small 
flat  island  in  a  large  ocean.  The  vast  expanse  above 
it  of  space  and  stars  was  a  crystal  vaulted  roof, 
to  keep  the  waters  above  from  the  waters  below. 
When  it  rained  they  said  "the  windows  of  heaven 
were  opened."  This  little,  flat  earth  then  rested  on 
the  shoulders  of  Atlas,  or  the  back  of  four  ele- 
phants, who  stood  on  a  huge  tortoise.  What  a  vastly 
different  universe  the  people  of  modern  times  behold  ! 
This  little,  flat  earth  has  expanded  into  a  great 
globe,  spinning  through  space  fifty  times  faster 
than  a  bullet  from  a  rifle;  and  the  blue  vault  of 


296  THE  UNIVERSE 

heaven  that  to  them  was  the  end  of  the  universe 
and  a  crystal  wall  to  keep  back  the  waters,  has 
opened  out,  lifted  up,  and  broadened  to  an  infinity 
of  space  containing  countless  suns  and  worlds. 
Where  their  narrow  view  saw  only  wonders,  miracles, 
and  innumerable  myth-gods  of  superstition,  we  see 
the  orderly  processes  of  nature  proceeding  under 
uniform  laws,  propelled  by  one  fundamental  force — 
invisible  electricity,  and  formed  from  one  matter  or 
substance — the  invisible  atom.  And  this  vast  and 
complex  universe  is  the  unveiling  of  the  eternal 
thought  of  one  Almighty  Deity,  and  the  manifesta- 
tions of  His  creative  wisdom  and  power.  Thus  our 
earth  becomes  a  divine  revelation  and  man  a  spir- 
itual wonder.  Then  there  is  a  vast  and  mystic 
meaning  in  sea  and  land,  in  valley  and  mountain,  in 
man  and  all  living  creatures;  and  the  day  ut- 
tereth  speech  and  the  night  showeth  knowledge. 
And  all  tell  us  God  is  in  His  heaven  and  in  His 
earth,  and  in  man  and  in  all  His  wonderful  works, 
and  is  ever  present  in  spirit  and  electric  power. 

That  He  clothes  the  valleys  with  the  verdure  of 
prairie  and  forest,  the  hills  and  mountains  with 
beauty  and  grandeur,  and  peoples  the  land  and  the 
sea  with  living  creatures.  He  gives  fragrance  to  the 
flowers,  songs  to  the  birds,  gladness  to  the  sun- 
shine and  life  and  joy  to  all  living. 

In  His  infinite  goodness  He  gives  man  vastly 
larger  life  and  loftier  powers  than  all  other  earthly 
beings,  so  that  they  may  not  only  wonder  and 
adore;  but  become  co-workers  with  the  Infinite, 
and  understand  and  execute  His  eternal  purpose,  and 
Omnipotent  Will. 

At  last  all  thoughtful  men  are  being  brought  face 


ELECTRICAL  THEORY  SAVES  FROM   PANTHEISM    297 

to  face  with  that  creative  electric  energy  controlled 
by  Omniscient  Spirit,  which  is  felt  in  the  magnetic 
sunshine,  seen  in  the  falling  rain,  the  dew-drops, 
the  white-robed  lily,  the  blushing  rose,  and  the 
joy  and  gladness  of  life  itself.  But  above  all  things 
else  there  is  bestowed  on  humanity  the  spiritual 
power  and  loving  benediction  of  the  Great  Spiritual 
Father,  who  spread  out  the  heavens  as  a  curtain, 
lifted  up  the  mountains  and  started  suns  and  worlds 
on  the  eternal  pathway  of  their  inscrutable  des- 
tiny. We  of  this  generation  were  born  into  a  little 
narrow  world  only  six  thousand  years  old,  soon 
to  be  destroyed  by  fervent  heat ;  a  world  cursed  by 
its  maker,  where  the  vast  majority  of  its  inhabi- 
tants were  doomed  to  eternal  punishment.  Where 
human  slavery  was  practiced  and  approved,  where 
the  divine  right  of  kings,  the  degradation  of  the 
masses,  wars,  dueling,  ox  teams  and  slow  coaches 
predominated. 

We  now  live  in  a  world  of  electrical  wonders,  mar- 
velous luxuries  and  personal  freedom,  that  has 
millions  of  years  behind  it  and  eternity  before  it. 
Time  enough  to  solve  all  problems,  dispel  all  igno- 
rance and  discover  all  truth. 

Recent  experiments  by  Prof.  Goodspeed  of  the 
Pennsylvania  University  prove  that  man  is  a  magnet 
and  electric  organism  which  gives  out  an  aurora 
or  light  from  his  body  so  that  cats,  mice  and  other 
animals  may  see  him  in  the  dark.  He  has  also 
taken  photographs  from  the  electric  light  or  rays 
from  the  human  hand.  This  was  also  done  by 
French  scientists  six  years  ago  and  is  mentioned 
in  "Invisible  Light." 

On  May  26th,  1903,  Prof.  Percy  Lowell,  of  Flag- 


298  THE  UNIVERSE 

staff  Observatory,  Arizona,  announced  that  a  bril- 
liant projection  has  been  discovered  on  the  planet 
Mars,  and  was  seen  for  thirty-five  minutes.  Some 
think  it  is  Mars  signalling  to  us;  others  that  it  is 
a  snow-capped  mountain,  or  a  luminous  cloud; 
but  all  agree  that  it  shows  Mars  to  be  inhabited. 

Prof.  J.  A.  Fleming  of  the  London  University, 
seems  to  agree  with  my  conception  of  electricity. 
He  also  considers  it  as  a  refined  matter  and  the 
electron  as  the  atom  of  electricity,  In  the  "Pop- 
ular Science  Monthly"  of  June,  1903.  He  asserts 
that :  ' '  The  electron  isolated  presents  itself  as  elec- 
tricity of  the  negative  kind;  and  in  combination 
with  co-electrons  and  other  electrons  it  forms  the 
atoms  of  ponderable  matter.  At  rest  the  electrons 
or  co-electrons  constitute  an  electric  charge,  and 
when  in  motion  it  is  an  electric  current. 

"A  steady  flux  or  drift  of  electrons  in  one  direc- 
tion, and  co-electrons  in  an  opposite  direction,  is  a 
continuous  electric  current,  while  their  mere  oscilla- 
tion about  a  mean  position  is  an  alternating  cur- 
rent. The  vibration  of  an  electron,  if  sufficiently 
rapid,  enables  it  to  establish  electric  waves  in  the 
ether;  this  is  the  cause  or  foundation  of  wireless 
telegraphy.  The  electrons  or  atoms  of  electricity 
can,  in  some  cases,  make  their  way,  freely,  between 
the  atoms  of  ponderable  matter.  Where  this  can 
take  place  easily,  we  call  the  material  a  good  con- 
ductor. Electrons  in  their  free  condition  constitute 
electricity,  and  the  electrons  are  atoms  of  elec- 
ticity." 

These  electrons  and  their  currents  of  electricity,  I 
contend,  are  the  creative  cosmic  force  of  the  uni- 
verse, evolving  all  visible  form  and  substance,  and 


ELECTRICAL  THEORY  SAVES  FROM  PANTHEISM  299 

producing  all  light,  heat,  vital  force  and  so  called 
gravitation. 

Radium  is  one  form  of  electricity  or  electrons  in 
marvelous  combination  and  are  said  to  have  the 
power,  first,  of  giving  out  light  perpetually  without 
any  exciting  cause;  second,  to  emit  rays  that  pen- 
etrate solids  like  X-rays ;  third,  the  property  of  act- 
ing on  sensitized  plates;  fourth,  of  causing  air  to 
conduct  electricity;  and  fifth,  the  emission  of  heat. 

Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  in  a  May,  1893,  London  per- 
iodical, shows  the  advance  of  science  in  recognizing 
the  forces  of  nature  and  the  dominion  of  mind  and 
spirit  over  the  material  world.  He  affirms  that : 
"the  whole  effort  of  civilization  would  be  futile  if 
we  could  not  guide  the  powers  of  nature.  The 
powers  are  there,  else  we  should  be  helpless;  but 
life  and  mind  are  outside  of  these  powers  and  can 
direct  them  along  an  organized  course.  And  this 
same  life  or  mind,  as  we  know  it,  is  accessible  to 
petition,  to  affection,  to  pity,  to  a  multitude  of 
non-physical  influences;  and  hence,  indirectly  the 
little  plot  of  physical  universe  which  is  now  our 
temporary  home  has  become  amenable  to  truly 
spiritual  control."  This  sustains  my  contention 
that  the  spirit  life  of  man  is  outside  of  matter  and 
material  powers  and  can  control  and  direct  them. 

This  is  truth,  well  spoken,  and  illustrates  the 
electric  theory,  for  the  powers  of  nature  is  the  elec- 
tric energy  in  nature,  and  this  is  guided,  and  under 
the  control  of  mind  and  spirit — the  mind  or  spirit 
of  man  and  the  omnipotent  spirit  of  Deity.  And 
the  future  will  reveal  the  wonderful  controlling 
power  of  mind  over  matter  through  electric  energy. 

As  the  sun  may  send  to  each  planet  a  different 


300  THE  UNIVERSE 

vibration  or  current  of  wireless  electricity,  and  each 
planet  will  receive  only  such  current  as  it  attracts 
and  to  which  it  is  attuned ;  so  the  message  of  Deity 
to  the  souls  of  men  will  only  reach  and  affect  those 
souls  which  are  attuned  to  receive  them.  This  in 
the  vast  realms  of  nature  is  the  law  of  electric  or 
mutual  attraction,  and  in  the  invisible  realms  of 
spirit  the  same  universal  law  applies.  This  great 
principle  of  mutual  attraction,  receptivity  and  mut- 
ual adjustment  governs  everywhere  in  the  universal 
realms  of  nature  and  truth. 

Rev.  David  J.  Burrell,  in  his  sermon  on  "  Wireless 
Messages  of  God,"  sets  forth  some  strong  scientific 
reasons  why  the  natural  man  cannot  discern  spirit- 
ual things.  Under  this  universal  law  of  mutual 
adjustment  he  says:  "If  you  strike  a  tuning  fork 
keyed  to  middle  C  it  will  awaken  a  response  in 
another  fork,  provided  the  latter  is  keyed  to  the 
same  pitch,  but  not  otherwise."  And  he  applies  it  to 
men  who  respond  to  spiritual  influences  and  those 
who  are  spiritual  non-conductors. 

This  is  the  basic  fact  in  wireless  telegraphy.  At 
Cape  Cod  there  is  a  transmitting  station  consisting 
of  four  steel  towers  with  a  bunch  of  wires  suspended 
from  the  top  and  meeting  at  a  common  point  like 
an  inverted  cone.  If  the  power  be  applied  to  the 
apex  of  this  cone  the  wires  begin  to  tremble ;  and 
the  current,  oscillating  at  a  rate  say  of  nine  hundred 
thousand  vibrations  per  second,  creates  a  series  of 
corresponding  vibrations  in  the  ether,  just  as  a  stone 
cast  into  a  lake  sends  out  concentric  circles.  This 
ether  wave  or  message  speeds  outward  with  incal- 
culable rapidity  in  search  of  its  receiver ;  and  it  will 
gross  the  ocean  to  find  it. 


ELECTRICAL  THEORY  SAVES  FROM  PANTHEISM  301 

Now,  there  is  such  a  receiver  at  Poldhu,  in  Corn- 
wall, where  the  wires  are  precisely  attuned  to  the 
transmitter  at  Cape  Cod;  that  is,  their  vibrations 
are  the  same,  say  nine  hundred  thousand  per  second ; 
so  that  the  message  sent  from  Cape  Cod  meets  no 
response  until  it  finds  its  sympathetic  station  at 
Poldhu,  and  this  attracts  and  welcomes  it. 

Marconi's  system  of  wireless  telegraphy  is  not  an 
invention,  but  a  discovery  of  a  natural  law  or  pro- 
cess which  has  been  going  on  continuously  through 
all  the  realms  of  space  since  time  began. 

The  sun  as  the  great  source  and  center  of  energy 
in  our  solar  system  is  constantly  sending  out  mes- 
sages of  light  and  life  to  his  family  of  planets.  It 
is  a  scientific  fact  clearly  proven  that  a  ray  of  light 
is  an  electric  wireless  message  from  the  sun  to  the 
earth,  and  it  could  not  be  received  unless  the  earth 
attracted  it,  and  was  attuned  to  it.  For  here  the 
same  law  prevails  between  sun  and  earth  that 
no  message  can  be  received  except  by  some  object 
which  is  sympathetically  attuned  to  it. 

Prof.  Pupin  suggests  that  a  beam  of  light  repre- 
senting a  certain  number  of  vibrations  per  second, 
intended  to  convey  the  color  red,  is  sent  forth  from 
the  sun.  It  speeds  through  space  until  it  reaches 
the  earth ;  where  intent  upon  its  eager  quest  it  passes 
unresting  through  all  the  meadows,  since  no  grass- 
blade  is  adjusted  to  receive  it;  no  daisy  or  buttercup, 
no  lily  or  heliotrope  being  disposed  to  welcome  it; 
it  passes  over  all  gardens  until  it  finds  a  rose;  and 
here  it  pauses  and  finds  welcome.  Why  ?  Because  the 
rose  has  a  natural  affinity  for  it,  and  like  two  lovers 
in  mutual  affection  they  meet  and  embrace  each 
other,  and  are  blended  in  the  harmonious  union  of 


302  THE  UNIVERSE 

nature's  electric  law  of  life,  growth  and  beauty.  The 
same  law  of  mutual  attraction  and  wireless  teleg- 
raphy creates  the  lofty  elm,  the  towering  oak,  the 
blade  of  grass  and  the  waving  fields  of  golden  grain 
in  the  Autumnal  harvest. 

Dr.  Burrell  makes  an  apt  and  beautiful  illustration 
of  these  truths  of  nature  in  their  analogy  to  spirit- 
ual laws.  He  says:  "This  process  which  has  been 
discovered  to  be  so  prevalent  in  nature  has  infinite 
field  and  scope  of  operation  in  the  province  of  spirit- 
ual things.  God  as  the  great  transmitter  of  truth 
bears  to  the  spiritual  world  a  relation  corresponding 
to  that  of  the  sun  in  the  natural  world.  Assuming 
that  there  is  a  God,  and  that  we  are  created  in  his 
image  and  after  his  likeness,  it  follows  as  an  inevita- 
ble conclusion  that  He  will  somehow  reveal  himself 
to  his  children  and  hold  converse  with  them.  But 
here  is  the  application  of  the  principal  referred  to  : 
The  man  who  would  hear  the  wireless  messages  of 
God  must  Himself  be  attuned  or  adjusted  to  the 
character  of  God" 

This  is  superlative  truth  that  all  wise  men  should 
consider  and  not  have  occasion  to  lament,  like  Charles 
Darwin,  at  the  close  of  his  long  life  of  physical  investi- 
gation, that  he  had  starved  his  spiritual  nature. 
For  our  thoughts  depend  on  our  receptive  natures 
and  our  lives  are  just  what  we  make  them,  and  our 
future  is  according  to  our  character  and  the  inscru- 
table laws  of  life  and  destiny. 

O  !  the  wisdom  of  the  wisest ;  O  !  the  goodness  of  the  good ! 
Gleaning  through  the  sweep  of  ages  where  Divinity  hath  stood, 
Shining  footprints  of  celestials,  through  the  mystic  gleaming  bars, 
Of  the  ever  past  and  present  speaking  in  the  earth  and  stars. 
How  they  teach  the  lofty  spirit  of  the  beautiful  Beyond, 
Of  God's  uttered  truth  and  goodness,  if  but  yearning  souls  respond. 


WHAT  IS  SAID  OF 

CITIES  OF  THE  SUN 

By  GEORGE  WOODWARD  WARDER 


"  You  have  struck  out  on  original  and  alluring  lines  of  thought  and 
investigation  in  which  you  stand  alone,  ft  must  be  a  thrilling  sensa- 
tion to  blaze  a  new  trail  for  the  coming  march  of  men.  The  great 
highways  of  present  knowledge  were  once  obscure  and  hidden  paths." 
— Lord  Salisbury. 

"  He  has  the  scientific  knowledge  of  Flammarion  combined  with 
the  fancy  of  Jules  Verne." — Nicola  Tesala, 

"  I  am  reading  with  much  interest  your  remarkable  book.  I  am 
deeply  interested  and  profited  by  its  study.  It  is  grand,  cheering, 
helpful."— Rev.  Dr.  R.  S.  Mac  Arthur. 

"  Your  book  has  impressed  me  very  greatly  for  its  learning,  re 
search  and  intellectual  force." — Gen.  John  W.  Noble  (Ex- Secretary  of 
the  Interior.) 

"  Its  arguments  are  carefully  worked  up  on  scientific  lines  and  it  is 
interesting  reading  from  cover  to  cover." — New  York  Tribune. 

"  Few  writers  have  ventured  such  boldly  frank  opinions.  His  style 
is  polished  and  sometimes  brilliant,  while  his  thoughts  are  presented 
with  lucid  directness." — N.  Y.  Evening  Telegram. 

"  It  is  a  fascinating  work  which  goes  intelligently  and  with  scien- 
tific plausibility  into  speculations  concerning  the  destinies  of  Men  and 
the  Universe."—  The  New  York  World. 

"  So  much  has  been  accomplished  by  electricity  in  the  last  few 
years  that  no  person  can  come  forward  and  say  with  reason  that  the 
electric  theory  of  Col.  Warder  is  not  correct." — Denver  Republican. 

"  Your  books  are  intensely  interesting  and  instructive.  I  accept 
their  theories  and  believe  they  will  finally  prevail  and  revolutionize 
scientific  thought.  Have  read  them  three  times." — Dr.  L.  M.  Taylor 
(Scientist,  Washington,  D.  C.). 

"  I  know  no  greater  favor  that  I  can  bestow  on  my  friends  than  to 
present  them  your  book,  '  The  Cities  of  the  Sun.'  It  will  give  them 
new  thoughts  and  teach  them  to  think.  Send  me  fifty  volumes  to- 
morrow."— Col.  Henry  H.  Adams,  iff  Broadway,  New  York. 


12mo,  Cloth   Bound.  $1.50 


WHAT  IS  SAID  OP 

INVISIBLE    LIGHT 

By  GEORGE  WOODWARD  WARDER 


"  Col.  Warder's  book  has  attracted  gratifying  attention  among 
literary  and  scientific  people.  His  theory  of  electrical  creation  has 
been  fully  discussed  and  approved  by  many  scientific  men,  and  his 
new  publication,  '  Invisible  Light,'  will  give  the  critics  and  scientists 
something  new  to  puzzle  over." — The  Kansas  City  World. 

"  Perhaps  no  writer  on  a  scientific  subject  has  quite  equaled  Col. 
Warder  in  boldness  of  treatment,  and  characteristic  imagery  of  pre 
sentment.  He  repudiates  the  law  of  gravity,  and  adopts  electricity  as 
the  evolving  force  in  Creation,  and  proclaims  the  sun  to  be  inhabited." 
—  The  Kansas  City  Journal. 

"  If  he  fails  to  break  up  the  existing  scientific  theories  it  will  not 
be  his  fault.  We  have  read  his  work  with  interest,  and  w  ^atever  the 
opinion  of  scientific  critics  the  fact  remains  that  it  contains  ample  and 
original  food  for  thought." — Atlanta  Constitution. 

"  He  claims  electricity  is  the  medium  and  agency  of  Creative  power 
in  the  evolution  of  the  universe.  That  the  sun  is  inhabitable,  and  the 
spiritual  center  and  promised  heaven  of  the  Solar  System.  The  reader 
will  be  forced  to  admit  that  he  furnishes  good  proof  for  all  his  asser- 
tions."—  The  Kansas  City  Mail. 

"He  holds  there  are  only  three  elemental  substances  in  nature, 
spirit,  electricity  and  matter.  Matter  is  controlled  by  electricity 
and  electricity  is  controlled  by  spirit  intelligence.  That  in  dis- 
covering electricity  man  has  found  the  working  force  of  Deity,  and 
uses  it  in  all  fields  of  human  effort.  The  arguments  are  convincing, 
and  the  book  attractive  and  entertaining." — The  Kansas  City  Star. 

"  He  presents  the  most  advanced  theories  concerning  modern 
science,  and  claims  they  are  not  antagonistic  to  the  Mosaic  Scriptures. 
Every  page  abounds  with  polished  diction  and  glowing  imagery,  and 
his  thoughts  are  equal  to  the  best  of  the  world's  greatest  thinkers." — 
The  Chillicothe  Constitittion. 

"  You  have  rendered  a  service  to  the  world  by  affording  so  much 
food  for  thought,  and  directing  attention  to  the  important  subjects  of 
which  you  treat." — Col.  F.  F.  Hilder  (Bureau  Ethnology,  Washington, 
D.  C.). 

"The  book  is  the  best  exposition  of  the  physics  and  metaphysics 
of  the  universe  I  have  ever  read." — Wm.  C.  Boteler,  M.D.,  Editor  and 
Prop.  North  American  Medical  Journal. 


12mo,  Cloth   Bound,  $1.50 


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